Wednesday, May 28, 2014

One decade in

Happy anniversary, Willie! As the cliché goes, we've been through lots of ups and lots of downs together. Here's to the decades to come, and may they be filled with many more ups than downs! <3

A few of my favourite photos of us...

Oriental Bay, 2011

Melbourne, 2011

Melbourne, 2011

The Feast of Fools, 2009

Ohope beach, 2008/9

And something knitty... ;)

Heart, 2009

Love you lots, best friend! XX

Sunday, May 18, 2014

New pattern: Seaswell

I've had this shawl finished for a wee while, but was waiting to get the pattern just right before showing it off!

My newest design, Seaswell, is a triangular shawl with textured stripes.
The rippling edge is inspired by the sea, with rows of waves unfolding...


The wave-patterned border is an adaptation of a nineteenth-century stitch pattern. In Cornelia Mee's Exercises in Knitting (1846), it appears as 'Fan Pattern', and in Jane Gaugain's Lady's Assistant (1840), it's called 'Shell Pattern'. I replaced the yarn-overs in the original with simple kfb increases to make it a textured rather than lacy pattern, and I sharpened the crests of the waves with double-decreases. I also reduced the number of rows per pattern repeat, to suit narrow stripes.

I tried a new kind of yarn with this shawl - a sport-weight cotton yarn called 'Riveting Sport' from Kollage Yarns. It's made from recycled jeans, and comes in lovely subtle colours with a tweedy appearance. I used 'Pebble Denim' and 'Night Denim', very beachy colours!



Features:
  • textured 'garter ridge' centre, flowing into a wave-patterned edge
  • reversible stripes that look great on both sides 
  • top-down construction with a simple cast-on
  • easy to re-size by knitting more/fewer pattern repeats 
  • both charted and written instructions
  • requires only two skeins of recycled, eco-friendly yarn

The pattern download for Seaswell is available on Ravelry.

The photos below were taken in the Taranaki countryside, on my most recent trip to New Zealand (my posts 'Country matters' and 'Apples and hazelnuts' have lots more photos of the scenery).



I love the 'wrong' side too :)