Welcome to new visitors brought here by Knit Now and Yarnwise magazines! It has been a bit of a bumper week in terms of media coverage, it is fair to say. I have a pattern in the latest issue of Knit Now. The Botanical Gardens Shawl was a lot of fun to design: it starts off as a standard stocking stitch triangular shawl and then moves into a striking flower pattern which gives way to softly falling petals. I really enjoyed designing something that just flows organically from one stitch pattern into another and which looks clean & non-fussy.
The shawl also served as a master-class in how magazine work actually works. It is not a designer having a definite vision: it is always a collaboration.
I designed this shawl for Knit Now's Garden Party story in December or January. I first envisioned the shawl knitted in lace-weight yarn and in soft pastel colours - a very soft sage green or a pretty primrose. The Knit Now team suggested the gradient SparkLynne 4ply yarn from The Knitting Goddess instead - the chosen colourway ran from a cool white via pale lavender to a dark violet. It was a completely different direction but the graduation works perfectly with the way the stitches travel and a 4ply makes far more sense too. The ombre yarn meant that the shawl was moved from the Garden Party issue to the Colour Graduation issue as well - and the shawl works so well within the context of the other designs in the issue.
(I know that Joy of The Knitting Goddess is planning on restocking her shop with more colour-gradient yarns, so if you don't see a colourway straightaway - keep looking!)
Both Knit Now and Yarnwise focus on my Doggerland collection - Knit Now has a wonderful interview with Fiona of The Island Wool Company and Yarnwise has written an entire feature about the collection(!). I know a lot of people are still trying to catch up on knitting from the collection, so I am slowing things down a tiny bit. The next pattern is a unisex pattern and it should be out by mid-week next week.
So, it has been a bumper week - maybe it is more like a bumper year, really. Apart from the Doggerland collection, I have more 'things' in the pipeline. I am working with Old Maiden Aunt on a special project which will be unveiled in November, I'm collaborating with The Yarn Project, and I am also busy swatching for other 2014 work. I can show you a tiny, tiny glimpse of what I worked on yesterday - any guesses?