Swatches and Squishiness

How has your week been?

A lot of mine has been about swatches and bundles of yarn – so that’s pretty good.

Swatches are an enormous part of a designer’s life. When you answer a magazine’s call for submissions for example, you need to swatch your stitch patterns in the right type of yarn.

Each design submitted will include a sketch, pictures of the swatch or swatches, a description and suggestions for the yarn and colours to make the item in – all brought together on a single page.

Recently I’ve submitted ideas to number of calls which has resulted in a pile of new swatches.

Over the past two or three weeks, I’ve had commissions come in from those ideas and agreed the actual yarns and colours to be used.

This means I’ve needed to sort out all the swatches for the commissioned designs and collect them up with the sketch and notes for each one while lovely swishy parcels arrive.

Now, I need to reswatch in the lovely yarns pictured before I start creating the patterns and samples. I need to know exactly how the final yarn choice behaves before I start the calculations for how many stitches I need etc.

But it is good to stop and admire all the fab yarn I’ll be working with. There are some old favourites in among the yarns pictured as well as some brand new items that I’m excited to work with. Some are so new they aren’t on the market yet – but they will be by the time the designs appear in magazines. It is a great privilege to be able to work with these.

I will share some in progress pics when I can but for now you are going to have to guess what I might be making from these swatches and yarns.

Getting Zandra Rhodes a cuppa

Over the past couple of weeks I was volunteering at the Faversham Literary Festival.

This is an amazing local event featuring dozens of big name authors. But it only works thanks to dozens of volunteers like me who bustle about checking tickets, showing people to seats, running bookstalls and bars, and looking after authors and interviewers backstage.

On Saturday I found myself looking after the iconic Zandra Rhodes who was there to talk about her book… Iconic.

It was a joy to meet this unique textile and fashion designer. And to hear her talk about her design process especially when some of the things she mentioned were so familiar. For example realising you need to rethink a garment because the fabric pattern only looks good if the wearer keeps their arms stuck out at all times.

In this pic you can see Zandra and my attempt to stuff a lot of knitwear under my orange volunteer gilet (this venue was a historic church with some very cold parts).

Mittens and the wonder of wool

Last week in Kent in turned very cold so it was time for the full DK mittens. I wear 4ply fingerless mitts a lot in winter even when out for a walk and find they keep my hands comfortable most of the time. But when the temperature drops I turn to handknit gloves or mittens.

 

Mittens from my Birdie cloche and mitten set using DK yarn.
Find the pattern on Ravelry and Payhip

Pure wool DK mittens, especially these from my Birdie pattern (they’re named after a great aunt), are increasingly my favourites. I have seen plenty of advice saying mittens are the best choice for warmth if dexterity isn’t a priority and my experience agrees.

According to at least one active wear website, mittens are warmer because your fingers share body heat and there is less surface area on a mitten than a glove. But I don’t need high-tech fabric to help keep my fingers cosy because there is wool!

The amazing temperature controlling properties of pure wool, along with my fingers snuggling together for warmth, means cosy hands even in last week’s chill. Plus, I can fit a pair of 4ply fingerless mitts under this pair if it gets even colder.

Funnily enough I have another Birdie set on the go already in some lovely Bluefaced Leicester from West Yorkshire Spinners. The hat is done and when I get a chance, in between design deadlines, I am ready to start the mittens.

 

New magazine pattern: Anika yoked top

Knitting magazine issue 227 is out and it's all about texture.

I've a couple of patterns and tutorial in it but today I'm just showing you Anika.

 

This short-sleeved 4-ply top is worked bottom-up in the round on the body and sleeves which then join for the yoke (don't ask about working out yoke shaping for 10 sizes!).

 

It features a slip-stitch texture pattern which is easy to work but very effective. I used Cascade Yarns Heritage for this which means a vast range of colour combinations - and as mention above the pattern offers 10 sizes. But any nice plain 4-plys would work for this - or perhaps a variegated for the contrast.

 

I'll share the other design later in the week.

Give the gift of warm hands

It's definitely chilly hands weather, so as well as making myself some extra fingerless mitts, I expect Mr Penguin will need some more fingerless gloves - he is very specific that they should be gloves not mitts.

 

 

I designed both Hamilton (grey) and Carmicheal (green) especially to his requirements and then discovered other men who would with the "gloves not mitts" requirement. The Hamilton pattern tends to be a favourite at this time of year with people looking for a last minute gift to make for a man in their life.

 

 

Both types are made in DK and matching hats are also available in a discounted bundle.

 

Plus Carmicheal includes advice on turning these into full fingered gloves should you want to give it a go.

 

Wishing you all warm hands.

 

Tip of the week: Working with charts

 

There will always be some people who don't enjoy working from charts because of how their brains process instructions but for everyone else they are a useful tool for knitting a pattern or for checking it if you prefer using the written instructions. So it is worth understanding how they work.

A chart is basically a picture of your knitting using coloured blocks or symbols.
 

Colourwork charts are the simplest version of charts, in terms of seeing the picture. Each square represents a stitch and they are arranged in rows. On right side rows you read the chart from right to left. If you think of all your stitches being on the left needle, you will work along them from right to left. Wrong side rows are read from left to right - you are knitting back the other directions. If you are working in the round all your rows are right side rows, so you always read the chart from right to left on every round.

Lace charts are the ones people usually find harder to get their heads round, but they are still a picture. The symbols are designed to match the stitches they represent. For example, a yarnover is represented by a circle which matches an eyelet. A k2tog decrease slopes to the right and in a chart it is shown by a line leaning the same direction.

The picture below is of the pattern created by the lace chart above. You can hopefully see the same lines of eyelets and the sloped lines of the decreases.
 

The red box on the chart is the one thing that makes the knitting look different from the chart. The box represents the repeat of the pattern whereas you will see all the repeats in your work. But the chart should at the very least help you to see what shapes your lace should be making.

Why not try working with this chart and pattern - A Bench in the Clearing - or some of my other shawl or accessory patterns, to practice working with charts. There's 15% off all my patterns on Payhip until 24 November with the code SHAWL1511.

 

October magazine patterns - part one

My two patterns in  Knitting Magazine this month (issue 223) are all about comfort and as I am having a sofa day today, I'm delighted to have the samples on hand so I can try to replicated the pictures in my own home.

Duality is a chunky lace wrap/bedrunner with an unusual construction that I hope you will all enjoy. The lace is worked separately on either side on the central spine running along the full length. The yarn is Cascade Yarns 128 which gives a soft, cuddly finish.

 

The Slouchy Sofa Socks are intended to be indoor socks for relaxing in and feature cables and ribs as well as a ribbed short row feel. For extra squishyness, they're knitted in #SocksYeah DK.

 

 

New Pattern: Hemingford lace sleeve sweater

Have you noticed that I like detail? I don't tend to make plain items but that doesn't mean all over pattern.

The Hemingford sweater has a plain stocking stitch body with loose lacy sleeves which add a little glamour.

It is knitted in Cascade Yarns Heritage 4-ply which is one of my go-to fine sweater yarns and the pattern can be found in The Knitter issue 167 out now. The sample is in a very on trend Coral shade but the yarn comes in a wide range of colours so I am looking forward to seeing what people choose.

New pattern - the No Sew Bolero

 

It really is no sew apart from weaving in ends.

 

 

The body is knitted in one piece to the armholes and the shoulders are joined using a three needle cast off.

 

The sleeve stitches are picked up round the armhole and then shaped using short rows.

 

Finally, the lace edgings are added using a knit on technique.

 

The brief was for a garment with less common construction so I set out to create something without sewn seams but which wasn't a yoked sweater or a top down raglan.

 

It was a fun challenge and I think the result is rather pretty. But what's really important is that none of the techniques are really difficult, just take it step by step.

 

 

The yarn is Cascade Yarns 220 Fingering.

 

Find the pattern in Knitting Magazine issue 215 where you just might find another pattern and an article by me!

 

 

 

More woodland (and architectural) inspirations

Some goodies came in the post and my brain is full of new shawl ideas - just need to finish 4 or 5 other things.

 

 

I bought these two skeins via the Virtual Wool Monty last weekend - despite not having a show to teach at I couldn't help some shopping.

 

I've been playing with some ideas about mixing more solid and variegated yarns together and these two skeins from RiverKnits really hit the spot.

 

When I went for my walk in the woods I started thinking about the red tile roofs and brick chimneys of various buildings that peep through the trees, so another woodland inspired shawl may be on the way.

 

If you fancy knitting a shawl today, check out my Ravelry shop - there is 10% off all shawl pattern until 25 June 2020 with code GOWIB.

 

 

Footnote: Chatting to Becci from River Knits online I have learned that the red brick along the canals was the inspiration for one of these colourways. Great minds and all that....