(c) Dan Walmsley for Practical Publishing
The wrap really started from my doing a lot of thinking about reversible cable patterns. Whether you could do it by cabling on either side (you can; I'm still looking for the right way to use this technique). I also did a bit of poking around on Ravelry, as you do, and the other way to do it is to cable in rib. So long as you're doing a straightforward single twist cable, this will look the same on both sides. It also looks rather architectural, which lead to me bringing my reversible-cable thoughts together with my book-themed thoughts.
Originally, these were based on Antonia Forest's Marlow family books, and their Elizabethan house, Trennels. It's more than likely that the Marlows will raise their heads in my knitting at some point in the future, but the reversible-cable / Tudor house thing then made me think of poor Harriet Vane's missing barley-sugar-twist chimneys in Dorothy L. Sayer's novel Busman's Honeymoon. Then I realised Tudor houses are rather suited to knitting, firm brickwork and lacy lattice mullioned windows. (They also tend to be a bit cold, which makes a cosy wrap a necessity, not a luxury!)
Naturally I was delighted when Knit Now were interested in my idea as this is only the second time I've had a pattern commissioned (the first being in the somewhat unusual circumstances surrounding the demise of Knit magazine and Phoenix-like rise of Yarnwise).
I had some trouble finding the right yarn - every time I came across one with the right sort of colour, it would turn out to be a discontinued shade - but then I found that Rico rather helpfully did one that was actually called Brick Red and even better, the yarn itself is a real delight to knit with, knitting up this commission certainly did not feel like work! I have to admit that the final thing spent some time being draped around me before I sorrowfully sent it off...
