My first magazine commission

This last couple of weeks I’ve been knitting furiously for a magazine commission. I submitted a design idea to Knit Now magazine at the end of February and was lucky enough to get the go ahead on it.

I’m not going to reveal the design here – you’ll have to buy the magazine for that! (It’s the spring/summer issue.) But as you might guess I’m pretty excited about it. The yarn chosen by the magazine’s editor is rather different from that which I suggested. I went for a laceweight from Manos del Uruguay, but I’ve ended up with Louisa Harding Amitola. This double-knitting-weight yarn is gorgeous, although it’s not very tightly wrapped so is rather splitty.

As you might have guessed, the piece is an accessory rather than a garment so gauge and yarn weight aren't that important.

I had a minor panic – not actually that minor – that I wasn't going to have enough yarn. This is despite the two balls I've got having a slightly higher yardage than the one of Manos that I used to make the first sample and it being a DK rather than a laceweight meaning it will come out bigger anyway. But logic aside I was still worried. But I've nearly finished the first ball and I think it should be fine.

My other concern was that I wouldn't be able to finish the sample by the deadline. I was convinced I only had a couple of weeks. But then I checked and it turns out that the deadline is 10 April. The upside to this, of course, is that, with just over a week of my fastest knitting, I'm more than halfway finished.

So on balance, it’s going well and I’m rather pleased with myself. This is the first time one of my designs has been accepted anywhere and I hope is the first of many.

I'm not going to share a picture of the sample,
but here's the yarn. Louisa Harding Amitola in Pirouette 102.