Menai is being launched as an individual pattern on Friday 4th April – sign up to the newsletter before then for an exclusive subscriber discount code!
It seems very appropriate that the launch of this design as an individual pattern happens in the spring as it is covered in growing leaf shapes!
With everything being quite busy lately, I completely missed that my latest design for Knit Now, Crenellate Shawl came out over a week ago! Knit Now Issue 179 is the one to look for.
Crenellate is a textured top down triangular shawl that uses just knit and purl stitches with yarn overs placed at the edges and centre spine for the shaping. It’s knitted using West Yorkshire Spinners Elements DK which catches the light beautifully.
This photo shows the textured pattern really well. I took this shot while the shawl was blocking and drying so the colours are a little darker as the yarn is damp here.
The camellias are starting to look good as I had hoped. The pink one flowers before the red one with larger flowers. The red one certainly knows which side the sun hits it as that side is becoming covered in blooms and the other side is still very much green.
The daffodils and front borders are looking good too! The red cowslips always surprise me as I forget they are there. Do excuse the weeds and grass in the border – there hasn’t been any time for gardening this week.
Very soon I need to get the veg patches into use, which will mean deciding which veg we want to grow this year. There hasn’t been a lot of time to think about growing our own veg lately, but it would be nice to get that part of the garden up and running properly. Everything was a bit of a disappointment last year as most of the plants got eaten, so we’ll probably try for different crops this time.
There were some more long car journeys this week, down to the midlands to visit my Mum, then further down to Kent to help my lovely mother-in-law celebrate her birthday and then back home again. I tend to listen to unabridged audiobooks when I’m driving and I’ve been expanding my eras of historical fiction.
On the way down I listened to The Bookseller of Inverness by S. G. MacLean, set in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden, and on the way home I started listening to The Forbidden Queen by Anne O’Brien, telling the story of Katherine de Valois who becomes the wife of Henry V and mother of Henry VI. Both are hugely enjoyable and I recommend them, in whatever form you enjoy a book. Usually the historical fiction I listen to is Tudor or Elizabethan, so it’s nice to fill in some of the gaps on either side!
Anne at Yarn O’clock is busy getting ready for my trunk show there on April 12th! This window display is full of my designs!
Pictured are Into the Vortex, Nubble Slip Stitch Mitts, Llanberis, Twisted, Ice Diamond Mitts, What Do Points Make? and Calon Cariad. I’ll have paper copies of all these designs and many more with me on the day, and also lots more samples for you to see in person. I’ll be there all day from 10am -4pm and I hope folk will find time to pop in and say hello! The shop is on Earl Road in Mold and there is lots of parking in the town. As it’s being held on a Saturday, you’ll also be able to enjoy Mold’s street market.
I told you that I have two design commissions that I’m working on. One is a lace pattern that needed to have a small rejig in terms of size to make it a little narrower, but since then it’s been coming on a treat. I’m nearly at the end of the fifth pattern repeat of seven. Once all seven are complete, there’s just the final part of the chart to work and the top border and it’s done bar the blocking.
I’m using Jamieson’s of Shetland Ultra Lace for this design and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a yarn with a lot of personality and is able to withstand being pulled out and re-knitted quite happily, despite being a laceweight yarn. It’s the same yarn I used for the original three colour version of Maid Marion, my Pi shawl. If you come to my workshop on lace knitting next month (May 28th) at Sew Woolly in Cheadle, you’ll be using this yarn too! I’ll tell you more about my workshops there next week.
Until then, take care and remember to sign up for the newsletter if you’d like a discount for Menai! K x