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....

Privileged to be one of Knitting magazine's featured designers

It is very lovely to be one of the designers interviewed for the 200th edition of Knitting magazine

Especially as winning a garment design competition in the magazine a few years ago was one of the big spurs to my design career.  The magazine mentions a collection of shawls I was planning to get online. I had hoped to have these up my the end of October but as often the case for freelance creatives, life has intervened and I have been prioritising the work that guarantees payment rather than the ones where I hope I will get sales on Ravelry etc.

However, the Beautifully Blocked collection which makes a selection of my favourite shawls designs for magazines available as individual downloadable patterns for the first time will be ready very soon. I will reveal the 8 choosen patterns over the weekend.

I also plan to write about what how the designer aspects of my life work on a day to day basis as soon as I free up some time.

 

Inspiration from Gainsborough to McQueen

 

The theme for the new issue of Knitting magazine (no 192) is British Yarn and British Landscape. Because of the way my mind works this cardigan developed from seemingly disparate sources. The construction of the two part fronts to create a waistcoat effect is an idea I have been playing with since looking at the clever ways AlexanderMcQueen played with traditional tailoring.

The landscape theme made me think of the famous Gainsborough picture of a couple surveying their land. So the "Mrs Andrews" cardigan has a textured "waistcoat section joined the the over jacket with the join embellished by small buttons to recall C18th style.

 

Mr and Mrs Andrews

I hope that you agree that it is both unusual and wearable - there are back darts to help shaping.

The yarns are 100% wool DK and Wool/Silk DK from New Lanark so there are plenty of possible colour combinations plus it is very affordable.

Happy knitting

Looking back at my 2018 design journey

2018 was a very busy year for me in many ways but one of them was as a knitwear designer.

How busy didn’t really strike me until I started looking back at the patterns published last year with a view to consider which magazine patterns I might relaunch on my own sites in due course. I doubled by design output last year and worked with four big magazines, Knitting, The Knitter, Simply Knitting and Knit Now.

It was also the year when I was able to walk into WH Smith and see three of my designs in a row on the covers of three of these magazines.

I am always very chuffed when my work makes the cover of anything so this was rather overwhelming. I wrote something about this at the time.

So when I started looking back though the 2018 designs I thought I would pull them together in a series of collages.

Sweaters, cardigans and a dress

These were all created to a design brief for a particular magazine issue with a theme. Sometimes a theme just shouts at me and garment sketches flow from my pencil at speed. other times it is more difficult. But looking at these I think my interest in construction, shaping and stitch patterns come through. The one thing I tend not to do is plain stocking stitch in one colour. That doesn't mean difficult knits - but it does mean there will be something to keep your interest and add a little variety.

Shawls, wraps and scarves

These allow me to let loose with lace, cables and texture as well as providing the opportunity to play with construction as with the two signature "radial" semi-circular shawls and the green wraps in rows and three which are worked on the bias from corner to corner. 

I also love the drama you can create with colour and large pieces of lace, so even when people tell me shawls are less popular, I won't be walking away from them.

Socks

For most of my knitting life (well, my life, there isn't much of a time difference) I didn't knit socks and had no interest in them. Then I set myself a new year challenge of doing something new and made a pair. Definitely a life changing moment, as five years on I regularly design and make them. I have taught sock knitting and as I type am thinking of getting a pair out of the drawer because by toes are cold in a high street pair.

My preference I will go for a cuff down sock with a heel flap. But I will do a short row heel or and after-thought one (as in the colourwork socks) if the design would work better.

So what will 2019 bring? This January I have already finished four samples and have the yarn for several more to hand. I am planning a number of pattern relaunches and have a special big project in the works. I am also going to try to post more and revive this blog.