Published: Lotus Blossom Wrap pattern

My latest magazine commission is now available from all good newsagents!

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I’ve recently had another pattern published, this time in Knit Now magazine. This is another rectangular wrap, like my Poplar Tree Wrap. It looks very different, though, and uses my new favourite stitch: lotus flower.

My Lotus Blossom Wrap pattern in situ. This features in Knit Now 77.

The brief for this was Indian summer, so I wanted something inspired by India’s national flower, the lotus. I Googled it, thinking it might bring up some images I could use as a base to create a lotus using yarn overs or different textured stitches.

Instead it came up with the lotus flower stitch. This is created by knitting five times into a knit five together. This makes a stitch that looks like a five-petalled flower resembling a lotus floating on water. I had the main body of a wrap. Next I worked out a lacy leaf edging to complete the piece.

I wanted a varigated silk yarn for this, and the one suggested by the magazine was lovely. It felt luxurious and the yellow, orange and red colour wss so vibrant. I almost changed the name of the pattern to Fire Lotus, but decided not to as not everyone would use that colour or even that yarn.

The silk wasn’t perfect, though. The dye stained my fingers yellow – I looked like I had an 80-a-day Woodbines habit. So if you do use it, take care. I would also suggest giving the finished wrap a wash to get out any stray dye.

The wrap appears in Knit Now 77, which is on sale right now from newsagents and the magazine’s own website.

A close-up of the leaf edging and lotus flower stitches.

New pattern: Poplar Tree Lace Wrap now available

My most recent pattern is now live on Love Knitting

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WELL that was quick! It was only yesterday that I wrote about my Poplar Tree Lace Wrap knitting pattern awaiting approval on Love Knitting. That same evening I received an email confirming that my pattern had been published. Indeed it has, and it can be found here.

Please do take a look, share it with any other knitters you know and, of course, you could buy it …

The Poplar Tree Lace Wrap by Idoru Knits.

Poplar Tree Lace Wrap knitting pattern

My latest pattern is finished and currently waiting approval. Fingers crossed!

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FIRST some exciting news: someone bought one of my patterns! My Stars and Stripes Fingerless Mitts crochet pattern is live over on Love Crochet. And just last week it was downloaded for the first time. I’ve asked in the pattern that if anyone makes the mitts to share on social media and to tag me. I really hope they do. I’d love to see their finished product and hear what they think of both the mitts and the pattern itself.

 My latest pattern was submitted to Love Knitting for approval on 11 July. It takes five working days for approval so I’m currently waiting with baited breath. This is a rectangular lacy wrap: Poplar Tree Lace Wrap knitting pattern.

I really like the way this has turned out. I originally made the pattern for Knit Now magazine and I didn’t like the yarn they chose. It was varigated, which I think is wrong for lace as it disguises the pattern, and a double knit, which I thought too heavy. So I reworked it for Scrumptious Lace by Fyberspates. This is a gorgeous luxury yarn and a solid colour. You can make the whole wrap with one skein, so it doesn’t end up costing too much. I think it works much better in this yarn.

I should find out if the pattern has been approved by the end of this week (18 July 2017). I’ll post a link as soon as I have one...

My Poplar Tree Lace Wrap. I really like this. It's a fun knit and makes up surprisingly quickly.

Design notes: Stars and stripes crochet fingerless mitts

Learning a new crochet stitch inspired these warm and comfy fingerless mitts, the pattern for which is my first on Love Crochet

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THIS pattern was inspired by a video on how to crochet the star stitch, which popped up on my Facebook timeline. How might I use that stitch? I asked myself and these fingerless mitts were what I came up with.

The star stitch creates a very thick, stiff fabric that I thought would make a really cosy mitt. The yarn I used was left over from another project, but I thought it would be ideal for this one. It’s acrylic so hard wearing but also very soft. An aran weight, it crochets up quickly and the colours really show off the pattern.

I really like the stripped effect and the way the yarn really shows off the star pattern

I wanted a ribbed cuff at both ends of the mitts. These are to help keep them in place, while the one that covers the fingers can be folded back to free up those digits if you need to use them – great for if you’re shopping at a farmers’ market and don’t want to take off your mitts and risk leaving them behind (or is it just me who does that?). I’ve been on crutches recently and discovered that the mitts are a great way of keeping your hands warm while having your fingers free to grip the crutch handles.

I adapted the star stitch slightly from the instructions given in the video. I think the resulting pattern stands out more, it looks more ‘starry’. As well as amending the star slightly, I also had to work out how to create a thumb. I figured it would simply be a case of adding some extra chains at the right place in the mitts and then working these stitches until the thumb piece was big enough.

I tested out several different ways of working the stitches: double crochets, half treble crochets, slip stitches, working just the front loop, the back loop and so on. In the end I went for the simplest option and I really like the way it turned out.

Please do check it out, let all your crafting friends know about it, and maybe even consider buying it

This is the first – and as yet only – pattern I’ve got on Love Crochet. So far I’ve had no sales; obviously I hope this changes. But my timing wasn’t great – I uploaded the pattern at the end of February, when crafters would be thinking about spring and summer makes rather than cosy mitts.

The pattern is available here. Please do check it out, let all your crafting friends know about it, and maybe even consider buying it. It’s never too early to start crocheting those Christmas presents ...

Patreon and cost of producing a knitting pattern

A new Patreon is looking at the financial side of designing knitting patterns. Interested in the outcome, I signed up

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Edited to add some facts and figures. As of today (18 January 2017), there are 157 patrons signed up to this project, pledging a total of $578. This works out to just under $4 per patron ($3.68), which means some people have chosen to pledge less than the $4 minimum to receive the patterns.

A couple of weeks ago someone I follow on Twitter retweeted an intriguing tweet from @Knitgrrl, AKA Shannon Okey. It was about a new Patreon aimed at looking at the true cost of producing a knitting pattern and how much money designers make.

The project takes place over the whole of 2017 and the idea is that patrons pledge $4 per week, in return for which they get a knitting pattern, again on a weekly basis. As the experiment progresses, Shannon will look in depth at the financial side – how much patterns cost to produce (photography, tech editing, sample knitters and so on), what was earned from sales on Ravelry as well as via Patreon, who got paid and why, and so on. She will consider whether the summer knitting slump has an effect and if knit-alongs or other events help sales.

Money and creative people is a contentious subject. There seems to be a prevailing belief that we shouldn’t ask for any, that we do what we do out of love and being paid for it somehow detracts from that. This is rubbish. Creative people – whether designers, artists, authors or whatever – need to eat, and our time is just as valuable as the plumber who comes to fix your dodgy piping. You wouldn’t offer to pay them in exposure, would you?

It’s incredibly hard to make a living as a designer and it seems that we’re being squeezed harder all the time. Knitting is a very time-consuming activity and there’s a lot of effort in getting to the final written pattern. This can involve coming up with the idea, making notes, sketches and swatches, sending proposals to magazines, sourcing yarns, knitting a sample, writing the pattern, getting it tech edited and test knitted. And this doesn’t even begin to cover the cost of having a website, marketing, creating and maintaining a brand etc etc.

I’m very interested in seeing how this project pans out. Over a whole year, $4 a week adds up to quite a lot; $208 in fact, which is more or less the same in Sterling following the Brexit idiocy. Will I like the patterns? How will I feel paying this amount of money over a year? What will I think when I find out to whom that money actually goes?

There seems to be a belief that creative people shouldn’t ask for money, that we do what we do out of love and being paid for it somehow detracts from that

The first pattern has already been released. It’s a bobble hat called Signy. It’s available on Ravelry for $6. So what do I think? It’s a nice pattern, but it’s not something I would have chosen to buy. I don’t often knit hats and rarely wear them. I like the idea of wearing hats, but then forget to or choose not to because they’re just another thing to lose. I’m very good at losing things.

The PDF is nicely designed with some good photography. The layout of the text could use some cleaning up; there are some bad breaks, with words hyphenated across columns, making it difficult to read and which, as a magazine editor, I wouldn’t have let through. The three-column layout is quite cramped. But the pattern itself seems well written and easy to follow. Three sizes are given so it should fit most people.

As the project goes on, I shall document what I think of each pattern. I’ll also try to knit each one, or at least the majority of them, and talk about the finished article.

Work in progress: Jane, the deep V sweater

Where I’m at with my latest project and overcoming problems with decreasing, unintentional increasing and perfectionism

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My latest project is a replacement sweater for one that’s falling apart. Again. I really do wear my clothes to death. This one is a pink job with a deep V neck that I’m recreating, updating and hopefully improving.

So far the main challenge has been working out how to do the V neck. The idea is to layer a top underneath this one, either in a matching or contrasting colour depending on how I feel, so it’s important that there’s enough space to show off the top underneath, but at the same time the slope has to be nice and even. After a combination of maths and experimentation, I think I’ve got it sorted and the V is coming along very nicely.

The logical part of my brain isn’t very loud and nearly always gets drowned out by the louder, brasher perfectionist part of my brain

In fact I’m really enjoying knitting this as the frequent decreases and very deep V neck mean that the front piece is almost done. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, though. Just last week, 30 rows into the left-hand side of the deep V, I realised I had one too many stitches. I had done the right number of decreases. I definitely had the right number of stitches at the beginning. So where had that extra one come from?

The alpaca yarn I’m using, while gorgeously soft and mostly a joy to knit with, can be rather splitty, and that’s what had happened here. I’d split a stitch in two some 24 rows back. I could easily have incorporated an extra decrease to sort the mistake out, but my brain just doesn’t work like that. I had to pull it all back and start again.

I did something similar last night when I realised I’d decreased at rows 112 and 118 rather than 114 and 120. The logical part of my brain tells me that these things don’t matter, that these mistakes are easy to fix. But the logical part of my brain isn’t very loud and nearly always gets drowned out by the louder, brasher perfectionist part of my brain. That part tells me that I have to go back and make it right. So I do. And really I'm OK with that.

The front piece of the Jane deep V sweater is almost done.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

When knitting and cycling collide

What happens when a knitter takes up cycling? Knitted cycling accessories, of course!

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It was bound to happen. I’ve been a knitting for some years now, and cycling is my new obsession, so it was inevitable that I’d find a way to combine the two.

A cyclist’s wardrobe consists mainly of lots and lots of lycra; knitted sweaters and the like aren’t really suitable. So it was to accessories I looked. Hats, headbands, neckwarmers, wristwarmers and so on. My first foray into knitted accessories was a neckwarmer or buff (I’m not entirely sure what to call it).

Now I just need something to keep my head and ears toasty …

The buff is a simple tube, knitted in the round, in a 2x2 rib for stretchiness in Rico Essentials DK merino in a chocolate brown colour. I crocheted a shell border onto each end for a bit of interest. Same yarn, this time in cream.

This is a very quick and easy knit, great for beginners, and the border isn’t necessary for those who don’t crochet. It’s long enough to sit on my collar bones and reach up to just under my nose. My helmet clips on over it, underneath my chin. So it creates a nice cover-up around my neck over the collar of my jacket.

The cycling buff/neckwarmer in action.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

Due to the quite amazing mildness that has characterised this winter I’ve only worn the buff a couple of times, but it really does work, keeping my neck and the lower part of my face nice and warm. Now I just need something to keep my head and ears toasty …

So I’ve started making a headband. I’ve got some 4-ply alpaca left over from my first-ever design project. I could make a hat, but I think a headband will be more useful on the bike, fitting nicely underneath my helmet. Again, it’s a 2x2 rib and I’m going to make it quite wide so that it covers my ears completely.

The problem is that the headband is dark blue and the buff is brown, and clearly brown and blue don’t go together. Luckily I’ve got some Rico Essentials DK merino in a light blue.

Knitting a cycling headband. Photo by Idoru Knits.

The Comme Ca top redux

My latest finished object: what I think and what I’d do differently

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So the Comme Ca top is finally finished, seaming dilemmas and sleeve difficulties and all. I’ve worn it a few times already and I’m actually really pleased with the result. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t change things if I did it again.

The verdict
I like it. The fit is great and it’s a good replacement for the original top. In fact I think it looks better than the original. It’s got more structure so is more fitted. The deep ribbed hem clings nicely to my waist and there’s plenty of room to wear a top underneath.

I had to teach myself several new techniques to complete this sweater: seaming three pieces of material; making the crossover; creating cap sleeves; inventing the single line of white on the sleeves and neckline. These are all skills I can apply to future designs and which will no doubt improve my knitting.

I love you, now change
To be honest there’s not an awful lot I would do differently. When I was sewing it up I did think it might have been better in a 4 ply, as the seams would be less bulky. But now that it’s done it doesn’t actually look that bulky. I still think it would work well in a 4 ply though.

I also think I should have put in more decreases on the crossovers, creating a more obtuse angle. This would have opened up the front, meaning that more of whatever top I happen to be wearing underneath would be on show. But this is a minor point, really, and overall I’m happy with the way the piece has turned out.

Comparing the original top (left) and my remake (right). I honestly do prefer mine. Photo by Idoru Knits.

Is there a right way to design?

Charts and sketches or straight to the knitting – which method is better? Or does it all come down to your preferred way of working?

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I’d really love to know how other designers go about designing. Do you meticulously measure, chart, make sketches and so on so that when you come to the actual making you know exactly what you’re doing and how it’ll all turn out? Or do you jump straight in with the knitting? I do the latter, it’s the way my brain works – I’m not great with paperwork and making charts just doesn’t appeal. I want to knit. I want to see the real thing taking shape.

I make a sketch of what I’m designing and I always do a swatch, usually in stocking stitch, but sometimes in the relevant stitch pattern. I use this and either my own measurements or general ones to work out how many stitches I need for each piece, and then I start knitting. That’s the extent of my planning.

When I came to sewing on the sleeves it quickly became apparent they were the wrong size

But this leads to problems. I should have finished the making up on my Comme Ca top ages ago, but when I came to sewing on the sleeves it quickly became apparent they were the wrong size. Too long and too narrow, so they didn’t fit the armholes properly and would have been too tight on the tops of my arms.

Spot the difference? The sleeve on the left was the first one;
it's too long and too narrow. The one on the right, however,
fit perfectly. Photo by Idoru Knits.

Now, if I was the charting type I’m sure this wouldn’t have happened. I’d have known exactly how many stitches and rows I needed to make the sleeves the exact size. Instead I estimated the extra number of stitches needed to make the sleeves wide enough and started experimenting with rows and decreases to see how to make them the right length. It took a couple of goes, but I’ve got it now, and I like the way it looks. I’ve still got to sew on the second sleeve and then weave in the final few ends, and then it’s done, and I can finally wear my new top.

All change?
But does this mean I should change my way of doing things? I’m sure the top – and many other items I’ve designed – would have been finished a lot more quickly if I was more methodical in my approach. A proper drawing on graph paper would mean I could work out numbers of rows for each piece, heading off problems like the one encountered here.

I worry that this would take the enjoyment out of it all, though. I knit because I like it. I design because it’s creative. Making it more methodical is surely going to make it more like, well, work. And I don’t want that.

Those sleeves pinned in place ready for sewing.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

Recreating a favourite sweater

My jumper’s really old – what can I do? Make another of course

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I tend to wear the heck out of my clothes. I’ll fall in love with a particular piece and just wear it until it falls apart. And then I’m bereft. So, for me, one of the best things about designing your own knitwear is being able to recreate favourite sweaters when they’re past wearable.

The wool in this jumper is pilling and it's not going to
last much longer. Time to replace it. Photo by Idoru Knits.

One such piece is a pink jumper originally from Jane Norman that I picked up for a few quid in a charity shop. I love this jumper. It’s really fitted, has nice chunky fold-over ribbed cuffs with a matching ribbed collar, both of which have a touch of angora in. The neckline is a very deep V, so I always wear it with something underneath – this can be a low-cut strappy top for going out or round-neck jersey top for work. It could be in a co-ordinating colour or something with more contrast.

The cuffs and sleeves are a very slightly
different colour. I want more contrast.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

But the wool is seriously starting to pill and the jumper is clearly past its best. I won’t be able to replace it, so I’m going to recreate it. But better. For one thing it’s got a sort of ‘insert’ in the V neck that I don’t like. Plus those ribbed cuffs and collar are in a very slightly different colour, but I want the change to stand out more. I also want to add a ribbed hem to the bottom.

I already know what I’m going to knit it in – Artesano Alpaca 4ply in sweet pea (for the main jumper) and belize (for the cuffs, collar and hem). Now I just have to buy the yarn and get that tape measure and calculator out!

Here you can see the 'insert'. This will
not be in my design. Photo by Idoru Knits.

Knitting a dress

The challenge: to design and knit a dress from scratch, preferably by the end of the year

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I wanted a big project – something to really get my teeth into. I’ve knitted sweaters; I’ve knitted lace shawls; I’ve knitted big cabled pieces. So I needed something else. I decided it was time to design and knit a dress. This was back in July, so how have I done so far?

The completed front. I really like the
colour changes and wide neckline.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

First up I had to come up with the style. After making a few sketches I settled on a flared or A-line skirt just above the knee, coming in to a fitted waist then out for the bust and up to a round neckline. Long flared sleeves would finish the look.

Next choice was yarn. I wanted a variagated colour, though nothing too bright. Ideally it would also change thickness. I was thinking something from Noro. But a dress takes a lot of yarn and Noro isn’t cheap. I’m lucky enough to have some very good friends, though, and one of them had a whole load of Rowan Damask, a linen blend, bought in the sale that she was willing to give me. Yes, give it to me. For free. I did say I was lucky.

Lattice cable pattern test. Using some spare yarn I tested
out how the cable pattern would look. I really liked the
effect and thought it would work well, even with a
variagated yarn. Photo by Idoru Knits.

Some measuring and maths later and I was ready to cast on. I’d already decided to knit it in stocking stitch, partly because there would be so much of it I didn’t want anything too complicated and partly because I thought the rolled-up effect that stocking stitch gives would create a nice effect at the bottom of the skirt and sleeves. By the time I’d got to the body of the dress, however, I was ready for a change. The dress was shaping up well, but knitting so much stocking stitch was dull and the piece itself would benefit from some variety.

Because of the yarn’s differences in colour and thickness, nothing too fancy was required and I decided that a lattice pattern on the bodice would be ideal. So how to create it? The simplest method would be to use a combination of knit and purl stitches. But that wasn’t the look I was going for. So it was time to trawl the internet and my stitch pattern books. I found the perfect cable pattern in a book I found in a charity shop.

That lattice pattern on 'the real thing'. Patterns can
easily be lost in variagated yarns, but because
this is so simple it works well. Photo by Idoru Knits.

I’ve now nearly finished the back. Then it’s just the two sleeves to do. I don’t know if I’ll finish the whole thing by the end of the year. I’m also crocheting a blanket and sewing up the crossover tank top I designed. But I’m nearly there and so far I’m very pleased with what I’ve produced.

The Shetland hat

My newest knitted design and some thoughts on saving money.

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My latest design, the Shetland hat, is a red and white bobble hat. It was inspired by Shetland, a TV show based on the books of Anne Cleeves. A thoroughly enjoyable crime thriller show starring Douglas Henshall, it is, unsurprisingly, set on Shetland. Shetland is very cold and very windy, so there was a lot of knitwear, much of which was stunning. A second series is coming soon – check it out.

A very important part of a Shetlander's wardrobe is, of course, a cosy hat. This one is knitted in Erika Knight’s bulky-weight Maxi Wool in Marni (red) and Canvas (white). The wide ribbed band keeps the hat firmly on your head, while the denseness of the reverse stocking stitch will ensure you stay warm. And the gorgeous red pompom just finishes the whole thing off!

The Shetland bobble hat in Erika Knight Maxi Wool.
I really like this colour combination,
and the weather's definitely turned, so I'm
sure to get plenty of wear out of the hat.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

 The chunkiness of the yarn means this is a very quick knit; it’s simple too – ideal for pub knitting. The yarn itself is lovely; soft to the touch and a joy to knit with. It isn’t cheap, though, and this got me to thinking. Knitting can be a rather expensive hobby and this is something I want to address in my designs.

Maxi Wool costs £8.95 and the pattern requires one skein of each colour. I know we don’t necessarily knit to save money, but I still think that nearly £20 just for the materials to make a hat is quite costly (although I did get two hats out of it). I’m not saying it’s not worth it – the yarn is beautiful and I’m really pleased with finished product – but not everybody wants to, or even can, spend that much.

So my plan from now on is to always find two different yarns that can be used for every project: a ‘save’ yarn and a ‘splurge’ yarn. In this case the Maxi Wool is the latter. If you want to ‘save’, however, I recommend Wendy Pampas, which I picked up for £4.50 per ball. Another bulky yarn, the gauge is marginally bigger than the the Erika Knight, so might require a smaller needle.

A 'selfie' of me looking happy in my new hat.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

This pattern will be available for free at some point in the future ...

An update - the Comme Ca top

Things are going well on the Comme Ca crossover top, my most recent knitwear design. I’ve finished all the different elements – the back, the two fronts and the two cap sleeves. Everything is blocked apart from the sleeves.

So now I have a decision to make. Normally when I do a collar I sew one shoulder edge together and then pick up stitches around the whole neckline, creating a single collar with no join. To do this with the crossover top, I would have to pick up stitches all the way up one front, around the neckline of the back and all the down the second front. That’s a heck of a lot of stitches. Doing each piece separately, however, means joins in the collar.

My usual way of dealing with this would be to take my preferred option and just see how it goes. But in this case my preferred option is to do the collar in one go, and picking up all those stitches is going to be somewhat labour intensive. If it doesn’t work, and I suspect it won’t, that’s an awful lot of time wasted. Maybe a compromise would be to join one front to the back and do the collar as one piece then edge the second front and join it all together.

The edging still needs to be added to this.

Inventing a new kind of sleeve

One of the best things about design is figuring out how to do new things. The crossover top I’m making has got cap sleeves, something I’ve never knitted before. This meant some experimentation.

The sleeves have to be wide enough to cover my shoulders and the tops of my arms, but also shorter than the length of the armhole, otherwise they’re just short set-in sleeves. They also have to decrease properly so they can be sewn into the armholes. I had to work out how many stitches I’d need to make the sleeves the right width and length with the right amount of decreasing so that it would all fit together.

First attempt. The straight edge (right) was to
be sewn into the armhole; the curved edge (left)
wouldthen form the sleeve. It doesn't look
like much, but with a ribbed cuff on the curved
edge it did look good. Just not right for this project.

My first attempt was completely wrong. I tried doing them sideways. So I cast on two stitches and increased along one edge until I was about halfway across and then decreased back down to two stitches. The idea being that I would sew the straight edge into the armhole. But the finished piece wasn’t long enough. It looks nice, just not right for this item of clothing. It’s certainly something I can try to incorporate into another design.

So my second attempt I did in the more traditional manner – starting at the cuff. For this I went back to the original item and measured the width of the sleeve. Then I cast on the right number of stitches to achieve that width and started knitting. Again this took a bit of experimenting with how long to knit in straight stocking stitch before starting the decreases, how many decreases to do and where to do them and so on, but I soon managed to create a cap sleeve that looks to be the perfect size and shape. Now I just have to make the other one.

Second attempt. This one seems to fit perfectly in the armhole
gap and appears to be the right size and shape.
I'm going to add a 1x1 ribbed cuff and then it's done.

New crochet design

In progress. Single rounds of treble crochet form
the thin rounds and double rounds of the same
stitch make up the thick rounds.

I’ve just embarked on a new crochet blanket design. The pattern was inspired by the print on a duvet cover glimpsed on TV show Murderland. It’s a series of concentric circles of differing thicknesses in white, pink and red.

I’ve figured out how to make the circle, working the right number of increases to create a flat piece that won’t curl up. I tried out several versions to get the right look. First using a quadruple crochet stitch combined with double crochet to make the different thicknesses, but finally deciding on using just treble crochet, but one row in a single colour for the thin circles and two rows for the thick ones.

Working out the increases proved problematic. I searched for advice, which said to increase by the number of stitches in the first round, so if you crochet 12 stitches into the foundation circle, then you increase by 12 on every other round. But I decided to ignore this and try random numbers of increases. Turns out that I should have just followed that formula. You live and learn.

The plan now is to make lots of circles, alternating the pink and red rounds, and then crochet them into squares and join the squares to make a blanket. I might then border the whole thing with smaller circles in squares, again alternating the pink and red.

Two finished circles. Now I just have to figure out how to
make them into squares so they can be joined.

Inspiring things

Do you ever look at those designers who just keep on turning out stunning, make-me-now designs and wonder where they get their ideas? Or think you'd love to design your own knits but can't find the inspiration?

Well the truth is that inspiration is all around you. There are the obvious ones, like the fashion industry and nature, but there are plenty of others that you might not have thought of. Here are some ways I find inspiration.

1 Other crafts
Pinterest is a great source for this. Obviously you already follow all the knitting boards you can you find, but what about, say, quilters? I've Pinned a whole load of beautiful quilts that I'm going to try to recreate using crochet.

This is one of the quilts I've Pinned. I think a mix of plain and
varigated yarn would work well to recreate the different colours.

2 The patterns all around us
The human mind is programmed to see patterns, to make sense of all the huge amounts of data that we experience every day. Take note of the things you see, the patterns your mind provides for you. It can be anything – the embossing on kitchen roll to create a lace pattern or using coloured tiles as the inspiration for an afghan.

3 Your favourite clothes
This is a great one if you're new to designing. You already know your favourite clothes fit, so all you have to do is measure them, and then try to recreate them.

4 Your favourite knitting patterns
Another one that's good for beginners. Try adapting a project you've already made and love – swap that V neck on a favourite sweater pattern for round neckline, remove a ribbed hem or cuffs and have that rolled-up effect that stocking stitch gives you, or anything else you can think of. This kind of adaptation can be as bold or as small as you like. Keep copyright in mind, though. Be inspired by other designers, don't steal from them.

This was my first-ever design, based on a pattern from Simply Knitting.

5 TV
The Killing's Sarah Lund must have inspired hundreds of knitting patterns. And she's not the only one – there are loads of TV series that showcase great knitwear. Shetland had some really cosy jumpers, hats and gloves, which period dramas are a great source of vintage inspiration.

The BBC's Shetland, which has been green lit for another
series, was a fabulous source for ideas.

Well that's my top five for ideas. Where do you get inspiration?

Some sketches

First things first: I can't draw. When I start a design I have a picture in my head showing exactly what it is I want to achieve. And then I try sketching it, and at best I end up with a not-very-close approximation. It's the best I can do, but it gives me something tangible to work with, which is surely the point. So with this in mind, I present some of my sketches that I hope to turn into actual garments and designs at some point.

Lace pattern
This is a pattern I worked out based on the embossing pattern on a sheet of kitchen roll. Yes really. I want to turn it into a lacy shawl.

Knitted dress
I’ve been hankering after knitting a dress for ages. But I’ve shied away so far because it’ll take ages and I’d do the whole thing in stocking stitch so it won’t be especially interesting to knit.

Knitted skirt
Apparently flared below-the-knee skirts are going to be in this autumn. This one would have yarn overs to create the flare. I can’t decide whether a ribbed section at the top would be best or straight stocking stitch.

Samurai-style tunic
This would be a flared-sleeve top with a deep V neck and then a ribbed band knitted in the round attached to it. Done in white or cream. Or possibly black.

Rib-waisted tunic
The clue’s in the name – it’s a tunic, with ribbing at the waist.

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.

Design update

My latest design is a crossover top based on a favourite sweater that's just about falling apart. I'm doing well so far. Both fronts are done and I've done a goodly chunk of the back.

The back so far.

I've never made anything like this before. The biggest challenge so far has been working out how to do the slope to make the crossover. I had to make the slope, well, slopey, while at the same time making sure the piece was the right length, that the armholes were in the right place and the right size, that the shoulders were the right size. This took a lot of maths and several attempts at creating the slope. This was done using decreases, so another thing I had to take into acount was the direction of the decreases.

With the cross being right out front on the finished piece, there was no way to hide the decreases, so instead I had to make a feature of them. This meant making sure they leaned the right way – right on the right front, left on the left, so knit two together (k2tog) and slip slip knit (ssk) respectively. I really like the effect this has created.

This is the first time I've seen the two fronts
together, as it were. I like it.

The back is the easy bit. It's essentially the same as backs for all the other jumpers I've made, just with different maths. So my next challenge is the sleeves. I've done sleeves before, of course, but these are cap sleeves and I'm not really sure how to make them. I need to knit a kind of semi-circle and sew it into the armhole. But I'm not entirely sure how to knit a semi-circle.

I also need to add a border all around the crossover and round the collar. I'm not sure if this should be done all one go- that is, join the shoulders then starting at the bottom of one slope pick up stitches all the way round &ndash or to do each piece separately and then join. The former would look better, but that's going to be an awful lot of stitches to deal with. Will my circular needle even be long enough? The second option will be easier, but it just won't look as good. This is something to ponder.

A close-up of those decreases.

The other problem is that the thing just doesn't look like it's big enough. I measured the original top and made a swatch and worked out all the maths, so it should be just fine. Maybe blocking will sort it all out. But I'm actually taking a bit of a break from this project now. I've two things to complete to deadline &ndash one a baby cardie for a friend to give a pregnant work colleague and one a commission for a magazine. More on both of these later.

Finished tablet cover and free pattern

The finished article.

Last week I blogged about the crochet tablet cover I was designing. Well it's now finished, complete with button-down flap and slip-stitch border. I added a mother-of-pearl button as the finishing touch.

I've written up the pattern and I'm making it available free to blog readers. You can copy the pattern below, or if you’d prefer a fancy PDF, leave a comment and I’ll sort one out.

Candy striper tablet cover
Yarn: Sirdar Click chunky
Yarn A: colour Bloom
Yarn B: colour Lamb
Gauge: 20 rows and 15 sts in 10cm

Chain 55 (for 7" tablet) or 85 (for 10" tablet)

Row 1 with yarn A, ch1, 1dc in 2nd ch from hook, 1dc in all ch, turn
Row 2 ch 1, 1dc in all dc through the back loop (tbl) only, turn
Rows 3 + 4 Rpt row 2, but at end of row 4 change to yarn B, turn
Row 5 with yarn B, ch 1, 1 dc tbl in all dc, turn
Rows 6-8 rpt row 5, but at end of row 8 change to yarn A, turn
Row 9 with yarn A, ch 1 1 dc tbl in all dc, turn
Rows 10-12 rpt row 9, but at end of row 12 change to yarn B, turn

Repeat rows 5-12 until the cover is deep enough to fit your tablet - it should be slightly bigger than the tablet to ensure it fits in safely; it doesn't matter what colour you end on but do finish with a complete set of four rows of the final colour

Button detail.

Fold the piece in half. Join yarn A to the top corners of the held together sides and loosely slip stitch the two sides together, carry on along the bottom and up the other side. This last side doesn't actually need joining, this is just to ensure both sides look the same. You should now have a pocket that your tablet can fit in. You could leave it at this or carry on and add the flap

For flap
Join whichever colour you didn't finish with (so if your final stripe is yarn A, you'll join yarn B) to one corner of the top the cover
Row 1 ch 1, 1 dc tbl in every dc along one side of the cover, this then becomes the back of the cover, turn
Row 2 ch 1, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc in every dc except final two, turn
Row 3 ch 1, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc in every dc except last one, turn
Row 4 ch 1, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc in every dc except last 2, join 2nd colour

Repeat decrease pattern, while sticking to the stripe pattern, until you have 8 dc

Button-hole row ch 1, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl, ch 4, skip next four dc, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl Next row ch 1, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc tbl in next 4 ch, dc2tog tbl

Carry on decreasing, sticking to the stripe pattern, until only 1 dc remains, bind off
Join yarn A to one corner of the flap and loosely slip stitch all the way round, bind off
Join yarn B and loosely slip stitch in each sl st, bind off
Weave in all ends