First up, as part of the British Blooms collection in the mag, is Constance Beret, which is a top-down hat inspired by the classic English Rose, and named after the influential rosarian (isn't that a marvellous word?) Constance Spry.
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| (c) Practical Publishing |
The pattern on the crown of the hat didn't start off as rose petals - it began as a four-cornered version, possibly for a blanket, with a vague nod to Michael Nelson's book A Room in Chelsea Square. But after I'd done the swatch it developed an extra corner, and I realised I had the centre of a rose.
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| (c) Practical Publishing |
Love of roses is something I get from my family - we always had gardens full of roses, and I grow them myself now. As a child I remember collecting the petals to make a fairly foul "perfume" (basically rose petals in water). My parents do now actually live in a house called Rose Cottage!
The yarn for this pattern is King Cole Masham Double Knit, which I've already raved about in an earlier edition of Knit Now. I can't recommend it too highly. It would make a great jumper as well.
Pattern number 2 also has a slightly odd inspiration - basically one of my pattern testers for another design (Skillion Cowl if you're interested) said how pretty the wrong side of the fabric was, so I made the wrong side the right side for my Joni Scarf. As a matter of fact, I made it the right side as well, because the zig zag design looks equally good from either angle - which is what gave me the idea for the pattern name, Joni Mitchell's great song 'Both Sides Now',
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| (c) Practical Publishing |
This one's knitted using Blacker Pure English Merino, which I previous used for my Dovedale set in an earlier edition of Knit Now. I love this yarn - it manages to be both tactile and wearable but also quite firm. Patterns like this one, which are all about shape and structure. really benefit from a yarn with these kinds of qualities. I'm also so pleased to be working with Blacker as they have such a commitment to British farmers and our wool industry.
I'm also using Blacker yarns for a project that's in progress, a new scarf design which I'm actually designing-a-long as part of a Ravelry knit/craft-along during the Cricket World Cup. Members of the group from all over the world are working on cricket-inspired projects to support their teams, so it seemed a great opportunity to work on a pattern I've had in mind for a while, a cricket-sweater inspired scarf - squashy cables, the opportunity to incorporate team colours, and ready in time for the (always chilly) start of the first-class cricket season here in the UK. I'm supporting England, so will be working in blue and white, and it's extra-appropriate that it's going to be made out of British wool!
Oh, and there's just time to introduce you to Darcy, a new-ish pattern in Artesano Nebula...
And, even less new-ish, in Artesano Alpaca Heather, Yateley:
Artesano have made all of their pattern support free to download, so enjoy! They's also, rather brilliantly, available in German and Swedish as well.
