Fractured Hearts

I realised the other day that I hadn’t yet updated the Fracture MKAL pattern into a single PDF, but it is now done and I had a few requests for written instructions so I have added those too. The final single pattern has been renamed Fractured Hearts and is now available to purchase on Ravelry.

I really enjoyed running my first ever mystery knit-a-long, I was so worried before starting that it came as a bit of a shock how much fun it turned out to be. I am now considering running a mystery knit-a-long every spring, I’m already thinking about possible designs, but there are so many considerations, laceweight again or perhaps 4ply, single colour or multiple colours, and then what elements should I add, lace or cables, twisted stitches or ripples, the possibilities are endless!

Keep an eye on the blog next week as I am planning on a running a little questionaire with regards to KAL’s and would love you input.

New Pattern: Tracks of my Rainbow Tears

Time to start July with a splash of colour, this is my latest pattern – Tracks of my Rainbow Tears. This is a great project for using up small amounts of leftover bright coloured yarn, or you could do like I did and use some West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4ply in shade Rum Paradise.

This is an easy knit, the teardrops are shaped with short rows, but they are simple and it knits up really quickly. It’s knit from end to end so is also completely customisable with regards to length, you’ll need a minimum of 300yds of the main colour and 100yds of contrast colour to get a good sized shawl.

You can purchase the pattern via Ravelry here and there is a 20% discount with coupon code ‘tears’ available until the end of the 4th of July.

Summer Bargains

Merry Dancers Shawl

I usually try to keep my online knitting blog politics free, don’t worry I’m not going to launch into a rant now, but you probably know that the UK last week voted to leave the EU (I voted to remain) and that vote has had a seriously detrimental effect on the value of our currency. So basically if you live outside of the UK but have ever wanted to buy something from here now is the time to do, the value of the £ is so poor you can get an absolute bargain.

Now I’ve heard people say that the feel bad taking advantage of this fact… please don’t, the money you spend still has the same value to us here and if our economy gets any worse we will need all the money we can earn.

So if you’ve ever thought about buying one of my patterns now is definitely the time to do so, you can see them all here and I am planning on releasing a new shawl pattern at the end of the week too. Also don’t forget about UK indie yarn dyers and shops, there’s some amazing yarn available here, why not try something new.

Rosaline for ages 3m – 8yr

 

New Pattern: Leaf Anatomy

It’s a cold and damp day so here’s a bright rainbow shawl to brighten things up.

This is my latest pattern Leaf Anatomy, knit in 4ply / fingering weight yarn it uses from 500 – 1200 yards of yarn. My sample was knit in Knitting Goddess 4ply Britsock in the printer ink colourwheel shades, I used 600yds of yarn and the finished shawl is a large 53″ wide x 33″ deep.

Leaf Anatomy is available to purchase now, and if you use the coupon code ‘leaf’ you can get an introductory 25% discount. As always if you decide to knit this pattern I would love to see a picture.

Little Knitting

The sun has finally arrived and it is getting warmer here, and for some reason as soon as it gets to late spring / early summer all my knitting ideas seem to be baby related. I have no idea why this is but baby items are pretty good summer knitting projects as they are usually quite small so you don’t end up with a pile of knitting on your lap boiling your knees!

I’m quite lucky in that I do have recipients for any baby knitting, my nephew and niece are 9 months old, and I’m hoping that if I do come up with any new designs they’ll be willing models. At the moment all my new ideas seem to be for little dresses, as you can possibly see from the pic I took of my current sketchpad, I need to have a think about some more boy appropriate items too.

If you too are thinking about knitting baby clothes I do already have a few patterns, including Tigs which you can see below, or you can view all of my patterns here. Oh and there will be a couple of baby additions to my pattern catalogue in the next few weeks, I just need to get some photos take.

New Pattern: Belieu Shawl

 

photo copyright Practical Publishing

I have a pattern in the latest issue of Knit Now, this is the Belieu Shawl. The challenge was to design something using a max of 100g of Knit Picks Palette and this was what I come up with, the shawl above is knit in shades Suede and Masala which I think go really well together.

New knitting pattern: Hathi Sweater

Time to start the week with a new pattern, Hathi is the Hindi word for elephant; this sweater boasts an entire herd of hathi striding majestically around the yoke.

Hathi is knit from the bottom up in the round, the body and sleeves of the sweater are knit first then all three are joined together before the elephant yoke is knit.

Hathi is knit in worsted weight yarn, so it works up really quickly, I knit my sample in Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in shades raspberry and charcoal. It is designed to be loose fitting and is sized from XS to 3XL.

You can find the pattern here on Ravelry and from now until the end of 21st of April you can get an automatic 25% discount on this and all of my self published patterns.

Fracture Shawls

So now that my Fracture mystery knit-a-long is finished I can post some pictures, the one above is my sample, but below are some finished shawls from knitters that joined in. One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most is seeing all of the great finished projects and how the shawl looks in different yarns and colours.

How lovely is this white version, would make a great shawl for a bride.

Pink and hearts are a perfect combination

The next two are by the same person, I’m in awe, they both look amazing.

I’ve enjoyed the MKAL so much that I will definitely do it again, possibly towards the end of the year.

 

Oh hello there!

It’s been at least a couple of weeks since I last blogged, this is mostly due to Easter school holidays and small ill children, trying to get any sort of work done when there is two (very loud) small people in the house is near impossible at times. So much of the stuff that I need to get done is computer based like getting my website up and running, setting up a newsletter and charting a new design and these things need quiet, something there isn’t much of here at the moment!

But all that being said I have managed to do some knitting, the little knitted square in the picture is a swatch for a new sweater that I am working on, (it’s not going to be stripey I knitted stripes to soak it to make sure that the colours wouldn’t run) it wasn’t until after I had knit it that I noticed it looks a bit like watermelon, I rather like the effect. This sweater is going to be all-over stranded colourwork, charting the yoke increases took me most of a weekend, but its a fun challenge. It’s a lightweight 4ply / fingering weight sweater and the pattern should be out in the summer.

I’m also working on another project that I’m quite excited about, it’s a collection of shawls, all knit in British indie dyer yarns and all inspired by the countryside around me.  These shawls will be in my usual style of bright, bold and textured, and there will be lots of different techniques involved from lace to twisted stitches. The ebook and individual patterns for these will be out in the autumn.

Anyways hello again, I’m going to have a lot more regular posts coming up including a few new tutorials and some lovely pictures from my mystery knit-a-long, if you took part and would like to see your photo on here please send me a pm on Ravelry.

New Patterns

I love designing patterns for yarn companies and magazines, it is a great way to try out new yarns and because you have to work so far in advance of the pattern release when they do become available its a nice little surprise reminder of something I knit a few months ago.

So here are my latest two patterns, both are available via the Willow Yarns website. Firstly the Astray Pillow which is knit in Willow Burrow Worsted, and secondly is the Magritte dress which is knit in Willow Daily DK and is sized from 3 months up to 6 years.

The only problem with designing patterns for third parties is that I have to send them the samples, I have a little niece who would look great in that dress, although admittedly she is only 8 months old so I probably should knit her one that would fit!