Bring me bread, but bring me roses

I have to confess I have always had a passion for seeing my name in print, and these days that's most especially when it's attached to a knitting pattern! (The other option is in the crime pages of the newspapers, thanks to the day job, which is a bit of an unusual combination really). So I'm naturally very pleased to have two patterns in the latest Knit Now -Issue 44 - and as the icing on the cake, it's the Best of British edition. That's great, because I'm sort of a mushy patriotic soul at heart, and because I get to try out the most wonderful British yarns when I'm making the samples.

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.

 

(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.

 

(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',

 

(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.