If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen I have been talking in my Stories about a couple of collection ideas. The ideas on the table are a collection of Derbyshire related patterns and a collection of patterns inspired by fairies in literature.
I did a poll and the fairies idea came out very slightly ahead. For this and reasons of practicality, this will be the idea I go for first. Plus, after working with Amanda of Little Likac Yarn on our A Midsummer Night’s Dream collaboration, I’m in a bit of a fairy headspace.
The plan is for the collection to feature a number of patterns (I’m currently thinking 5, but things change…) that are inspired by fairies in books and other literature. I asked about this on Instagram too, and people have mentioned an interesting variety. Tinker Bell and Morgan Le Fay, two that I was aware of. And then apparently there’s a fairy in Shadowhunters and in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – neither of which I have read. I’m really open to all kinds of fairies. I want some evil ones. Some nice ones. Fairies of different genders and from different traditions.
I think it will be a hard balance between fairies everyone has heard of and fairies that fewer people know about, but are equally – or more – awesome.
At the moment I am re-reading Peter Pan so that I can have a think about Tinker Bell.
What else should I read? Which fairies do you like?
As promised, the Peaseblossom Shawl was released yesterday! Without quite the fanfare it deserved because I was on my way back from holiday. You may have seen that I did an Instagram Live last night, and if you didn’t you can see it on my feed over there. I am not very comfortable with lives, but I did it anyway and hopefully there was some useful information there!
So, the pattern can now be bought and is ready to knit, from Payhip, Ravelry, and it will also go up on Lovecrafts, but that will be later in the week because my to do list is already somewhat overflowing!
But I did want to give you a bit of an overview of the pattern. Hopefully the photos show that it is lovely! And you can see the beauty of Amanda’s yarn (and don’t forget that you can still get 20% off the Peaseblossom shawl if you buy some of her yarn in June 2021).
But the information you need to decide whether or not this pattern is for you? Here you go!
It is a crescent shaped shawl and combines textured sections with a beautiful lace motif. The shawl starts with a garter tab cast on, which, if you’ve done shawls before, will probably not be new to you. And it isn’t hard (even if it can be fiddly when you first learn, but everything is fiddly when you first learn). The lace is pretty straightforward too, and I’ve worked hard to make sure the instructions and charts are as clear as possible! I think it would be absolutely fine for someone fairly new to lace shawls (one of my friends test knit, and she only learned to knit a couple of months ago) – and if you’re an old hand with it, then it should be a smooth and relaxing project!
Where do you stand on edgings? Points or no points? I love points, so I’ve also used a nice stretchy bind off to make it easy to do some lovely points! But if you don’t like them, then there is nothing stopping you from blocking the edge as a nice curve.
How much yarn do you need? I used a 400m (437yd) skein of Little Likac Yarn Luxury Merino in the Titania colourway. I had about 5g left over, and Amanda, when she knit her own version, had about 6g left over. If you find a beautiful yarn that is shorter then I have some tips in the pattern for managing that – and some tips for options if you end up playing yarn chicken. Because who amongst us hasn’t been in that position from time to time??
What sort of yarn should you use? Well, I used a sock base, 85% merino and 15% nylon, and pretty much any sock yarn would do a good job. Other 4ply yarns would be lovely too, although remember that not all yarns block the way wool blends do. Having said that, I’d love to see someone use a beautiful drapey blend to make this. Something with silk or bamboo? I wonder about alpaca, but that tends to be a bit fuzzy so I don’t think it would really show the stitch pattern as clearly. It might be worth if for the snuggliness though!! You could even knit it in a heavier weight yarn, although I’d recommend trying to match the gauge, or at least get close to it, otherwise you might have a tight and tiny shawl!!
Is there anything else you think I should have told you about the shawl?
I’m so excited that it’s out there and to start seeing the lovely versions that people make!!
I have not been good at blogging lately but I really wanted to let you know about something exciting that has been going on!
A couple of months ago I was talking to my friend Amanda of Little Likac Yarn about a shawl I had in mind. It was fairy inspired. As we talked, and she told me how she was doing a selection of yarns in June inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we started to get very excited! And obviously, we decided that we really should work together on this.
The result is the Peaseblossom shawl, named after one of Titania’s attendant fairies. The sample is knit up in Amanda’s Titania colourway and the pattern is inspired by the idea of fairies dancing in the forest among the summer flowers.
The shawl is going to be released on 21st June 2021, but will be available to pre-order from 12 June 2021 at a discounted price. You can find it on Ravelry, where the discount will be automatically applied, and on my Payhip store where you will need the discount code “EarlyBirdPB”.
Amanda and I have also arranged a discount code to anyone who buys her yarn in June 2021 to get 20% off the full price of the pattern, so if you want some of her beautiful yarn and the pattern, then I definitely recommend that you head over to Little Likac Yarns.
I promised to finally get this shawl up on the blog and tell you about it, and here it is!
The Quiet Time shawl (Ravelry link) was released on the 26th of December. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen the launch and some of the amazing versions created by my test knitters.
The second pattern in my Playtime Collection, this is a gorgeous, squishy and enormous crescent shaped shawl designed to be worked on in the quiet moments of your day. Or the loud ones, if you prefer. I was thinking of those times when my child naps, or needs a little break. And sometimes, I need a break too. I don’t recommend knitting while you nap though…
I’ve worked really hard to make this pattern as flexible as possible. It includes instructions on how and where to change the size; advice for what to do if you run out of yarn; and for if your stitch count turns out to be a little bit wonky. This means that it can work if your yarn has a different yardage to the yarn I used. Or if you you’re using stash or leftovers. Or if you’re using handspun.
I am actually working on spinning some yarn to make a handspun version at the moment. There are some spinning pictures on Instagram, but when I get to the knitting stage I’ll definitely share here too!
You can buy the pattern on Ravelry, or on Lovecrafts.com. If you can’t or don’t want to use one of these options you can also email me and I can sell it to your directly.
Kerry has put together two different knit kits for this design which is super exciting and they are so gorgeous. There is the Bedruthan set, which is the colourway I have used, and also the Hotel Du Palais set which is a stunningly purple set (Kerry is making one in this colourway, so have a look at her Instagram to see it. It’s lovely!!!). In the kit you get the printed pattern (including a Ravelry code), the yarn of course (2 skeins of cuddly MCN!), and the stitch markers you need. Check them out here!
Well, I may have slightly neglected my website and blog. I’m sorry! I can only blame the sheer overwhelmingness of life during a pandemic.
So, how have you been?
I have been having some peaks and troughs around life. It’s scary, and some days I need to hide under the duvet just to manage my anxiety about Covid. Other days I can jump around with my four year old like nothing’s going on outside our living room.
In any case, it definitely means that things got a little bit behind around here. My most recent pattern isn’t even shown on the site!
I will get that rectified this week, and in the meantime, I’m back and will plan to be updating here much more regularly!!
I’m so excited to introduce you to the Playing Dress Up shawl, which is released today on Lovecrafts.com and Ravelry.com. It is the first in a collection inspired by children’s playtime and came up during lockdown.
The thing with lockdown, for those of us with caring responsibilities, was that it meant we had a lot less time for ourselves. For me, knitting was a path through that. I needed my projects to be straightforward enough that I could pick them up and put them down, and could still knit while watching and even playing with my son –Â but still result in something beautiful.
And so the concept of the Playtime Collection was born. Projects inspired by play – and suitable to be worked on during play!
The Playing Dress Up shawl is inspired by the way children play with bits of household fabric and use them for dressing up and fort building, whether it’s a towel superhero cape, a sheet dress or… the only limit is their imaginations!
The photos I’ve shared are of both my project and those of my test knitters (my patterns are always tech edited and test knit!), and I loved them so much I wanted to show you the pattern in a variety of yarns. It is a crescent shaped shawl with bands of stocking stitch, eyelet mesh and a picot edging. It only needs a 100g skein of 4ply or fingering weight yarn and is a quick knit.
A dog sits at a table, cake in front of it. The dog is wearing a party hat! Photo by Natasha Fernandez from Pexels
Tomorrow it’s my birthday. I’m turning 40, which really sounds grown up, doesn’t it? My family and I have a really lovely day planned, even though, thanks to Covid, there will be some key people missing.
One of the things I have planned is a birthday cast on. So much of my knitting now is focused on design, and that’s ok, I love it. But it means that I’m not really knitting much of other people’s patterns as much. I have an amazing “to knit” list and enough yarn to open a yarn shop. So, let’s do it!
My choice was easy. A while ago a pattern was released that I really wanted to make, and I knew I would do it eventually. It’s Fierce by Fiona Hamilton-MacLaren (who is, incidentally, the lovely tech editor who has worked on my patterns!), and it’s an adorable cropped cardigan. The link is to her Etsy shop, but it is available on Ravelry too.
So, my task for this evening, after the Small One is in bed and while my husband searches for birthday wrapping paper, is to pick out my yarn. I have one in mind, but I’ll have to see if anything else calls my name!
How are you? We have been having a bit of a stressful time lately, I’m sure most of you can relate. Even for those of us lucky enough to be having a comfortable lockdown, there are hard days. But, I think we’re moving into a more positive place at the moment, which is a good feeling. The sunshine is helping!
With that in mind, I thought it might be a good time to start talking about my next pattern which will be released on 4 June 2020. You may have seen it on social media, especially Instagram, as I have shared a couple of projects from my excellent test knitters. It is called the Goodnight Sweetheart Shawl.
The inspiration behind it was the whispered conversations (whispered so as not to wake the 3 year old in the next room) I have in bed, late at night, when it is just my husband and I and we are trying to calm our brains and hoping for sleep. We often talk nonsense, or try to be intentionally boring. Do other people do this with their partners? I don’t know. However, the shawl has tried to combine the familiar and comforting. It is a top down triangular shawl, so if you’re a shawl knitter, you’ve probably made one. The stitch pattern is mainly stocking stitch with some purl ridges thrown in to keep us on our toes. And although the edging uses the knitted on edging technique, new to some, I’m sure, the edging itself is ribbing, something the majority of knitters are very familiar with.
I can’t wait to share the pattern in a couple of weeks time! And in the meantime, if you’re interested, you might want to sign up for my newsletter – there will be a discount code on the pattern for subscribers! There is a link at the top of the page, or go directly to the pattern on Lovecrafts.com.
Greetings! Here in the UK it is the Easter long weekend.
It’s an odd one, though. No trips away. No seeing family. Lockdown Easter means trying to work out how we’re going to make it special.
I was too disorganised to arrange a special Easter Sunday meal, but we do have plans! There will be a Easter egg hunt for our 3 year old in the garden. We’re going to make a little basket together to collect the eggs. We will eat. Mainly chocolate. We will phone or video call our families.
And other than that, we will just try to enjoy each other’s company. And take breaks from each other too, because lockdown is hard, let’s not pretend otherwise.
Without the pressure to do work, I plan on doing some knitting and reading and as a family we are going to tackle the mountain of clothes that need to be folded and put away.
I have had it in my mind to finally set up this website and blog for absolutely ages, and I haven’t got to it due to the pressures of the day job. Which is fine, but now I’m here, and I find it a very odd time to start anything! There is such a sense of unease in the world, and it’s easy to feel a bit frivolous when we focus on anything else.
I don’t know about you, though, but I think we do need to focus on other things. A bit. While there’s lots that is going on in the world that absolutely needs our attention, it really doesn’t need our attention every minute of every day. In fact, if we give it all of our attention we will just start to feel more and more anxious. More and more stressed. More and more hopeless. Which probably won’t help us much in the end. And so, I’m embracing it.
Here is my new blog where I will talk about my designs and knitting (and potentially other crafty adventures). I will take that few minutes for myself to not worry about the seriousness of the world, and maybe it will give that few minutes to someone else too.
