Ursulas

March 26, 2013 By Kate in Colours of Shetland, Fair Isle, Kate Davies, knitters, knitting, Shetland Tags: amazing knitters, Blacker Yarns, Colours of Shetland, colourwork, fairisle, Jamieson and Smith, JC Rennie, Kate Davies, knitting, Ursula 47 Comments

I always find it exciting when different iterations of my patterns are posted on Ravelry. This is particularly the case when knitters’ colour choices and personal modifications really transform the look of a design. Some amazing Ursulas have begun to appear which, because they have a completely different feel to my original, and also because they just look bloody lovely, I wanted to share with you.

Ursula was inspired by the shades of Shetland’s summer wildflowers, and the original had a pale, botanical palette.

But Sarah knitted her Ursula with natural and sky-blue shades set against a background of midnight blue — creating a garment with a totally different feel.

Sarah says: “I am completely in love with my Ursula. This was an awesome project from the very beginning, using one of my favourite yarns from JC Rennie and my own handspun. . .

“Apart from completely changing the colours, I didn’t make any changes to the pattern, but accidentally knit the body at the narrowest point of my waist a little tighter, which gave me perfect and unintentional subtle waist shaping. It was the first time I’d tried a crochet steek (using the directions in Colours of Shetland) and it was joyous! I haven’t done a steek any other way since. I knit Ursula mostly on holiday, so its a lovely reminder of my trip too. I’m sure I’ll make it again in similar colours to Kate’s original, as the fit is absolutely perfect and it was so fun to make.”

I particularly love the fact that three different breeds of British sheep are represented in this garment (Sarah spun the fawn shade from Masham fibre, the brown from Manx Loaghtan and the vivid blue from Jamieson and Smith Shetland tops). Her Ursula is ravelled here.

Next up is Georgie, who chose to knit her Ursula with a single contrast shade, rather than three.

Georgie says: “My modifications were mainly due to yarn constraints, as I’ve been having to be thrifty, unravelling cardigans I no longer wear. I had already knit a cardigan in the three shades I used for Ursula (Marie Wallin’s Mika) a lovely cardigan I never really wore, mainly due to the style, I prefer a more classic shape for cardigans. Anyway, Mika was first in line when I was scouting around the house for suitable yarn for Ursula. . .

. . . It’s knit in a combination of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift (the green), then Blacker Yarns Alpaca/Shetland in cream for the body and grey for the sleeves. I could see while knitting that I wouldn’t have enough of the main colour to finish the cardigan as written, so I shortened the body so the ribbing started on my waist. The sleeves were also shortened due to my yarn levels, plus, I thought they would work best with the length of cardigan.”

I was blown away when I saw Georgie’s Ursula how her use of a single contrast shade totally transformed the feel and look of the stitch pattern: in her cardigan, the zigzagging tri-coloured stripes of my original have become an allover with its own integral structure and continuity. I also really like how the cropped body and three quarter sleeves lend the garment an incredibly neat, vintage look. Georgie’s Ursula is ravelled here.

Finally, here is Rebecca’s Ursula, knit in four lovely shades of Jamieson and Smith jumper weight: 203, 118, fc14 and fc41.

Of her modifications, Rebecca says: “I lengthened the body by simply adding an extra peerie repeat in green before beginning the armhole steeks. I also made the sleeves snugger by decreasing very quickly and then lengthened them a bit to come further over the hands.”

Rebecca’s contrast shades really pop out against the grey background, and this garment feels to me like a refreshing change of key. I love the way that the colours she chose speak to one another, and find the juxtaposition of the complex plum tones of fc14 against the solid Spring green of 118 particularly pleasing. Rebecca’s Ursula is ravelled here.

Ursula is one of my favourite designs in Colours of Shetland, and it makes me so happy to see knitters making it, transforming it, and enjoying wearing their own beautiful hand-knitted cardigans!

hat at Hermaness

March 13, 2013 By Kate in Fair Isle, fairisle, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Shetland Tags: hat, Hazel Tindall, Jamieson and Smith, Kate Davies, knitting, peerie flooers, Sarah Laurenson, Shetland, TV 39 Comments

I’ve had a lot of queries about Peerie Flooers over the past few days, so here are a couple more photos of the particular hat in question. After being approached by the wardrobe folk involved with Shetland, I knitted up this new sample especially for the production. I remember knitting it over the May bank holiday, while Tom was running the Jura Fell Race, and then posting it off the following week.

Mel also knitted up an o w l sweater sample, which sadly wasn’t used in the production in the end. But you may have spotted other Shetland knitwear on screen: Hazel Tindall’s beautiful Eid Top was unmistakable, even at a distance, and I was very excited to spot a Sheep Heid in the Up Helly Aa crowd. During filming in Shetland, my friend Sarah worked in wardrobe, and they did a great job.

These photographs were taken out at Hermaness last September, and because I know someone is bound to ask about my yellow raincoat, it is from Seasalt, I highly recommend it, and you can find it here.

Thanks for all your well-wishes. I am still not at my best healthwise, unfortunately, but with careful pacing hope to be back up to speed very soon. xx

Sixareen Cape

February 28, 2013 By Kate in design, Fair Isle, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, landscape, patterns, photography, Shetland, Shetland Wool Week, textiles, yarn Tags: design, fair isle, fairisle, Jamieson and Smith, Kate Davies, knitting, knitwear, Shetland, Shetland Heritage yarn, shetland wool, Shetland yarn, Sixareen Cape 65 Comments

While we were in the Highlands, we took the opportunity to photograph a design I’ve had ready for a while: the Sixareen Cape.

I started knitting this Fair Isle wrap last October. You may remember that at that time I’d just designed a hat especially for Shetland wool week (The Sixareen Kep) using Jamieson and Smith’s wonderful Shetland Heritage Yarn.

(Sixareen Kep at my Shetland Wool Week Workshop, modelled by Tania Ashton-Jones. Photo courtesy Charlotte Monckton)

Around that time, I was getting a lot of wear out of a circular wrap I’d purchased from Toast (which I am wearing in the photograph above). This wrap was a sort of deep tube with raglan shaping, and I was surprised at how versatile a thing it was. It was a scarf, a cowl, a snood, and very nearly a sweater. I wore it scrunched up inside a coat when I was outside walking Bruce, I wore it wrapped about me inside the house when I needed another layer, and I wore it thrown on over a suit jacket when a little extra warmth was required outside. I liked it so much that I decided to design my own version featuring a deep Fair Isle border of the same chart design I’d used for the Kep, which I’d been very pleased with. This was the result.

The border of the circularly-knit ‘cape’ features three repeats of the ‘kep’ chart. Its a design I’ve come across in several Shetland sources, and, if you look at it, you’ll see that it is an interestingly stretched-out and squashed incarnation of a traditional OXO motif. There are several things I find really pleasing about this chart. The background is unusually spacious for a Fair Isle motif (there are stretches of 7 stitches in some places), and there’s something about this space that allows the different shades to sing. Because of this, when repeated, the motif develops a shimmering near-kaleidoscopic quality, which I really love.

The heritage yarn is amazingly soft, and wonderful to work with. It is the perfect yarn for traditional Fair Isle, but it also has a marvelous drapey quality which makes it absolutely ideal for this kind of garment. The plain stockinette portion is knitted at a slightly looser gauge to enhance the drape, allowing the garment to be worn in several different ways.

It can be worn scrunched up, cowl-like around the neck . . .

Pulled forward, collar-like, around the shoulders . . .

Or pulled down, cape-like, around the torso . . .

Decreases are worked through the plain stockinette part of the garment in exactly the same way as the shaping of a raglan sweater.

. . . and the end result is a striking and versatile wrap that is also great at warding off chilly highland breezes.

These photographs were taken above Rannoch Moor on a truly beautiful evening.

The cape comes in seven sizes, with a circumference of 45″ to 59″. It is fitted by measuring the wearer’s total shoulder circumference, and it should be worn with at least 2 inches of positive ease, to allow the wearing of layers underneath. If you would prefer a deeper or shallower wrap, the length is easily adjusted following the instructions in the pattern.

The Sixareen Cape is now available to purchase digitally through Ravelry and you can also purchase the pattern in print, to be shipped directly to you, (wherever in the world you are) via my Mag Cloud store.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing (Toby’s coat)

January 13, 2013 By Kate in beasties, fairisle, knitting, Shetland Tags: design, dog coat, dog jacket, Jamieson and Smith, knitting, rams and yowes, Sandra Manson, Shetland Woolbrokers, Toby's Coat 29 Comments

I’m really pleased to be able to release another sheepy pattern! This design is a collaboration between myself and the wonderful Sandra Manson of Jamieson and Smith. As you can see, this cute canine coat features the same charts as my Sheepheid and Rams and Yowes designs, but the pattern is all Sandra’s. It was designed for her characterful Yorkshire Terrier, Toby, who is a true Woolbroker’s icon. Here they are together at Jamieson and Smith HQ.

Toby is such a lovely old boy — he will be 17 next month — and is often to be seen around Lerwick and Bressay sporting a very impressive range of Fairisle knitwear, all of which is designed and made for him by Sandra. Without doubt, Toby is Shetland’s best-dressed canine, and it is about time that he had a pattern of his very own!

Toby’s coat is made from the tail upwards and, in the same way as you’d create a mitten thumb, uses contrast yarn to create ‘afterthought’ front leg openings which are picked up later.

The neck of the coat is shaped with decreases and a ribbed edging is added all around the sides, creating a button-and-buttonhole band for the coat to fasten securely around the chest. Stitches are then picked up for the front ‘sleeves’, and a pair of neat straps are knitted to fasten the back of the coat underneath the hind legs.

Toby’s coat should fit any small-breed dog, such as a Westie or Jack Russell. The pattern includes detailed schematics, enabling you to adjust the dimensions if necessary to best fit those of your dog by adjusting gauge, or the length of the fastening straps.

Charts by: me!
Pattern by: Sandra Manson
Tech-editing by: Jen Arnall-Culliford

You can now buy a kit for Toby’s coat directly from Jamieson and Smith, and the pattern is also available to download individually from Ravelry.

WOOF WOOF!

Northmavine hoody

November 27, 2012 By Kate in Colours of Shetland, design, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Shetland Tags: Colours of Shetland, design, Jamieson and Smith, Kate Davies, Kate Davies designs, knitting, Northmavine, Northmavine Hoody 39 Comments

Phew! Things are really busy round here today! There is just time to show you the fourth design from Colours of Shetland – - the Northmavine Hoody.

Just like the accompanying hap, the hoody is inspired by the blues and greens of the rocks and water that shape the turbulent landscape of Northmavine.

The hoody uses exactly the same shades, in a subtly-shaded striped sequence.

The hap and the hoody don’t just share a colourway but a functional origin, which I discuss further in the book. . . .

This hoody is simple and classic in construction, and like many of the garments in Colours of Shetland, the pleasures of the design really are in the detail. It features inset pockets . . .

which are lined in a soft angora yarn, as well as turned facings which pick up the colours of the stripes and which are finished with . . .yes, you guessed it – i-cord.

As well as adding further pops of colour, the facings also have a purpose — to enable trouble-free zip insertion . . .

. . . fastening thus. . .

This is a garment designed for casual comfort and ease, to be worn as you will . . .

. . . whether you are out for a paddle . . .

Or enjoying a chilly walk on Ronas Hill

You can now find all relevant yarn, shade and yardage requirements over on the Northmavine Hoody pattern page.

Scatness Tam

November 26, 2012 By Kate in Colours of Shetland, Kate Davies Designs Tags: Colours of Shetland, Jamieson and Smith, Kate Davies, Scatness Tam 30 Comments

With massive thanks to Nic, my superb art and production editor, this image shows the cover of Colours of Shetland fresh from the presses! WOOHOO! We really are nearly there now – the bookshop will open on December 3rd, and in case you were in any doubt about the general excitement round here, I’ve created a countdown in the right sidebar. Just 7 days to go!!

The cover of the book features a design about which a few of you have been asking — the Scatness Tam.

This tam is inspired by the landscape and architecture of Old Scatness — a fascinating archeological site in Shetland’s South Mainland (that you’ll be able to read more about in the book).

Like the site, the tam blends Pictish and Viking influences from wheelhouse-inspired crown:

. . to side motifs which are based on Viking leatherwork moulds found on the site.

I’ve used 8 of my favourite shades of Jamieson and Smith jumperweight to create a really richly-coloured hat which echoes the autumnal landscape of Shetland’s South Mainland.

Some of you have been enquiring about shade numbers and yarn quantities. I’ve now started adding patterns from the book to Ravelry, and you’ll find all the relevant shade and yarn information listed there, with each individual pattern.

The Scatness tam features FC58 – a shade whose ‘recipe’ contains the largest number of colours in the J&S palette, FC38 – a glorious, deep rust – and FC12 – a complex golden green.

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you the other design in the Scatness ‘colour story’. Till then . . .

snawheid

November 18, 2012 By Kate in design, knitting, wool, Wovember, yarn Tags: Excelana, Fibre Harvest, hat, Jamieson and Smith, John Arbon, Kate Davies, knit, knitting, shetland organics, Snawheid, snow, snowflake hat, snowflakes, wool, wovember, yarn 67 Comments

Here is the result of my pompom mania — SNAWHEID!

Snawheid is a seasonal, snowflake-adorned beanie, feauturing a gigantic snowball pompom. It being Wovember and everything, I thought it would be fun to present to you three rather different Snawheids, each made in a different British breed-specific yarn. All are, of course, 100% wool (as is, incidentally, the rest of my outfit, with the exclusion of my boots).

Snawheid #1 is knitted in Shetland Organic 2 ply. As its name would suggest, this yarn comes from certified organic Shetland sheep, and is processed by organic mills. It knits to a standard 4 ply tension, and, as you would imagine, has a lovely woolly, typically Shetland hand. In the ball it has a matt, almost chalky feel to it and it is plied and spun slightly looser than other natural Shetlands I’ve knit with. When blocked, it puffs right up, producing a lovely halo. I gave it a good long soak and the yarn bloomed and relaxed tremendously. Its a really special, totally traditional Shetland yarn, and makes a lovely soft, even fabric. It has lent Snawheid #1 a quintessentially cosy, Wintery feel.

For a rather different look, I present to you Snawheid #2, which has been knitted by Jen in Excelana 4 ply.

I decided not to stick the pompom on Jen’s Snawheid just yet, so that I could show you my crown design — which is shaped to resemble a gigantic snowflake. If one were in any way averse to pompoms, or preferred a sleeker look, the crown ensures that your heid will remain adequately snaw-y, however you decide to knit this hat.

Excelana is a collaboration between Susan Crawford and John Arbon: the former has unparallelled knowledge of vintage yarns, and the latter is the UK’s independent spinning meister. The result is this delicious blend of 70% Exmoor Blueface / 30% Bluefaced Leicester which has an incredibly smooth, soft hand, a lovely sheen, and a good bit of bounce. Being worsted spun, it also has superb stitch definition, making it ideal for showing off some festive colourwork snowflakes.

Without the enormous pompom, and knitted in the monochrome shades of Persian Grey and Alabaster, I think Jen’s hat has a lovely muted, classic feel.

And finally, here is Snawheid #3.

After I finished Snawheid #1, and got my hands on Snawheid #2, I had a sudden desire to make another one using Jamieson and Smith Jumper Weight. Snawheid #3 is knitted in shade FC 34 — the coolest of cool winter blues — and 1A, a natural Shetland white.

I am not quite sure why, but this is my favourite of the three.

Perhaps I am just in a blue-hat mood, or something.

Or perhaps its that the addition of colour makes this hat feel particularly jolly and festive.

Or perhaps it is just that knitting with Jamieson and Smith jumper weight feels like spending time with an old friend.

In any case it is fair to say that I have gone a wee bit Snawheid crazy. These gigantic, happy pompoms certainly chime with my mood right now; I am really pleased with the design and I absolutely love every one of these three hats. And let me tell you that you have got off lightly with the name, as the temptation to call it Bawheid (one of Tom’s dad’s favourite insults) was extremely strong.

Well, now there’s just a bit of pattern-tweaking and checking to do and, all being well, the SNAWHEID pattern will be released on Ravelry tomorrow (19th).

a taste of Northmavine

November 9, 2012 By Kate in Colours of Shetland, design, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Shetland Tags: Colours of Shetland, design, Jamieson and Smith, Kate Davies, Kate Davies designs, knitting, Northmavine, Northmavine hap, Shetland, shetland wool 63 Comments

Quite a few of you have been asking about the design depicted in my site’s new header. As there’s not long to go now till my book is published, I thought I’d give you a bit more of a taste of it.

This is the Northmavine Hap.

It uses one of the most familiar and easy-to-knit Shetland openwork patterns. This pattern is perhaps most often used to add a decorative border to plain accessories and garments, but I love its simple waves and bold stripes so much that I had to feature it all over the design!

Something about the all-over nature of the combination of shaded stripes with openwork makes this hap feel quite fresh and contemporary, I think.

The construction isn’t particularly traditional either, and I suppose neither is the distinctive centre shaping . . .

. . . which is meant to echo the smooth scalloped edges of Shetland’s beautiful and famous neolithic knives.

You may remember that, back in May, I was knitting a gigantic swatch, inspired by the colours of sea and stones. I played around with every green and blue and grey in the Jamieson and Smith palette before settling on the parrticular combination I used here.

I am really pleased with the end result — the hap neatly mixes a number of traditional and contemporary elements and speaks really well to the Northmavine ‘colour story’ it is designed to be a part of.

To read more of that story, you’ll have to wait for my Colours of Shetland book . . .

(not long now! We are almost there!)

Shetland Wool Week in pictures, part 2

October 21, 2012 By Kate in knitting, Shetland, wool, yarn Tags: campaign for wool, design, Gudrun Johnstone, Hazel Tindall, Jamieson and Smith, Kate Davies, knitting, Shetland, Shetland Wool Week, susan crawford, Vi-Spring, wool, yarn 15 Comments

Mel at Aithsetter

Mel and Hazel McKenzie, our Wool-Week landlady.

Sandra and Ella at J&S (if you are wondering about their cardigans, there’s a free pattern here)

Eric Stewart, showing us around the impressive textile facilitation unit at Shetland College

Knitters from six nations enjoying a trip to Unst (yoohoo ladies! It was lovely to meet you!)

Hazel Tindall, teaching Fair Isle

Gudrun, teaching lace

Susan, looking fabulous

Chris Harrison, Operations Director of Vi-Spring, receiving an award from Eric Wilson, past-master of the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, and one of the directors of the Campaign for Wool

Oliver Henry, telling us about the development of the new Shetland Heritage Yarn

(if you look at the window-reflections in the previous 2 photographs, you’ll see Misa and Deborah — the organisational geniuses behind Shetland Wool Week, to whom we are all incredibly grateful for this fantastic event! I think I can also spot Jane’s back in a rather pleasing cardigan . . .)

Me and Bess Jamieson – both wearing Fairisle – at the Shetland Textile Museum.