New pattern: Amarilli

I have something especially pretty to share with you today! This floaty, lacy shawl is Amarilli, part of the Wool People 10 collection and my second design published in collaboration with Brooklyn Tweed.

You can see the whole collection in the beautiful Lookbook. As well as a few more lace scarves and shawls, there are some very cosy-looking cabled jerseys (I especially love Marylebone).

Below are a couple of backyard photos of Amarilli, which we took late last year before sending it off to Brooklyn Tweed. I've been keeping this one a secret for quite a while!

Amarilli is knit in Brooklyn Tweed's new laceweight yarn, Plains. It's a laceweight with a lot of character and springiness, which gives a slightly rustic feel to the shawl. I used the colour 'Ranier', a calm blue-grey-with-a-hint-of-green that reminds me of lichen.

My starting point for this design was a 'bell lace' pattern from one of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries. I charted it out, tweaked it to fit a triangular shape, and added a border in keeping with the lace pattern. The design difficulty was in making the edges and border of the shape work with the stitch pattern - it took me a while to find a tidy and elegant solution!

Features:

  • all-over floral lace pattern which becomes nicely intuitive

  • knit and purl stitches only on wrong-side rows

  • top-down triangular construction with garter-tab cast on

  • requires 2 skeins of Plains by Brooklyn Tweed (or 750yds of laceweight yarn)

  • suitable for solid or semi-solid colourways

  • one size: 60" wingspan, 30" along spine

  • both charted and written instructions.

I named this shawl Amarilli because the lace motifs look like flowering bulbs - think amaryllis, lily, or crocus - but I also had a famous early Baroque song in mind, 'Amarilli, mia bella' by Giulio Caccini (published in Le Nuove Musiche, 1602). It's a very common song for young sopranos to learn - if you know someone who has had formal singing lessons, chances are they know it!

You can hear the song here:

And here is a different take on it, a much more decorated version published by Johann Nauwach in 1623:

You can purchase the pattern for the Amarilli shawl from Ravelry, or from the Brooklyn Tweed website.

New pattern: Liquid Honey

So happy I can finally share this with all of you! Liquid Honey is my second pattern to be published in Knitty, and it's one I'm super proud of.

And that's not all... my face is on the cover of the Spring + Summer issue! I've been making 'cover girl' jokes all day, it's been quite surreal... :)

I love yellow, and I love knitting lace, and I'm totally fascinated by bees. Put it all together, and you get a sunny yellow shawl inspired by honeycomb dripping with honey. I thought its cheeriness would make it a great fit for Knitty, and a nice gift for my fellow knitters.

Features:

  • honeycomb lace with a zigzagging lace border

  • top-down triangular construction with garter-tab cast on

  • no special stitches: just knit, purl, single and double yarn-overs, k2tog, ssk

  • a decorative picot bind off

  • requires 1.5 skeins of Malabrigo Lace (700yds of laceweight yarn)

  • suitable for solid or semi-solid colourways

  • one size: 63" wingspan, 29" along spine

  • both charted and written instructions.

The main part of the shawl is very repetitive and intuitive to knit, perfect for an on-the-go or tv-knitting project. The edging requires a little more attention, and I do recommend using needles with nice sharp points, for example Addi Lace needles. They kept me sane!

Shout out to my best photographer Dad for doing the photoshoot with me, and finding all the summery-looking flowers in the garden and around the town. And another shout out to Mum & Dad's 'Fortune' plum tree for co-starring in the photos! Since then, the plums have ripened and been turned into a couple of dozen jars of sauces and jams. Go tree.

The pattern is available for free here at Knitty.com. Its Ravelry page is here.

You can also read my post from last September on the story of Knitty and me.

New pattern: Heartpops

New pattern day! Heartpops is a cute textured tam or beret, with embossed hearts popping out from a lattice of cables.

I took advantage of the Valentine's Day display at the lolly shop for my photo props. ;) My sweet tooth is pretty much non-existent, so my flatmates will have to take on the task of eating the lollies now I'm done photographing them... I'm sure they won't complain too much!

This is what the bright blue yarn from my Wellington trip became - it's Madelinetosh Tosh DK in 'Button Jar Blue'. Tosh DK has great stitch definition and, best of all for someone who tends to do a lot of un-knitting in order to get a project just so, it's tough enough to stand up several rounds of frogging without getting damaged. And the colour is just unreal...

Features:

  • textured pattern with embossed hearts and cable lattice

  • 1/1 cables that can be knit without a cable needle

  • the lattice flows out of the ribbing and into a star-shaped crown

  • can be blocked into a tam/beret shape or a beanie shape

  • a one-skein project for 100g of DK-weight yarn

  • suitable for solid or semi-solid colourways

  • four sizes (Child Small to Adult Large)

  • both charted and written instructions.

Here's a link to my favourite tutorial on knitting small cables without a cable needle: Twisted Stitches.

There are a couple of special increases and decreases in this pattern, which are explained in the stitch glossary. They only occur a few times - mostly you'll be working plain old m1, k2tog, and ssk. This pattern would be suitable for an intermediate or advanced level knitter.

Find out more about my Heartpops hat pattern, including Ravelry and Payhip purchase options.

New pattern: Tailfeather

Tailfeather is my latest scarf design, and it's so, so, so cosy. It's a big, wide scarf with a garter-stitch-and-lace texture inspired by feathers.

I adore birds, as you may have gathered, and I've been planning to knit a scarf in this feathery stitch pattern for ages. It's actually related to the edging on my Kea shawl, but with elongated and slightly narrower 'feathers'. The worsted-weight yarn in this version gives it a nice casual, unisex look.

Features:

  • interlocking feather pattern based on garter stitch and simple lace

  • intuitive stitch pattern that makes for a fast knit

  • worsted-weight polwarth/alpaca/possum yarn for warmth

  • two width options (wide version shown)

  • long-tail cast on + simple knitted bind off

  • both charted and written instructions.

I used one of my favourite yarns for scarves, Outlaw Yarn's Bohemia Worsted (45% polwarth, 45% alpaca, and 10% possum). The subtle, muted brown colour is called 'Ambrotype'. It's actually a really interesting colour, with hints of mauve and mushroom.

If you're curious or concerned about possum-blend yarn, Outlaw's website has a great short explanation of their pest status in New Zealand, and why supporting the possum yarn industry is great for our native birds, forests, and wildlife: Deb's 'Official Rant' about Possums

Find out more about my Tailfeather scarf pattern, including Ravelry and Payhip purchase options.