Catkin

May 1, 2013 By Kate in design, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting Tags: baa ram ewe, Catkin, Catkin hat, Catkin sweater, design, Kate Davies, knitting, knitting pattern, Titus 68 Comments

In a fit of May Day fervour, I have decided to release CATKIN! Catkin is really two designs: a tunic-length sweater, and an accompanying slouchy hat.

I called these designs CATKIN because the soft hand and haze of baa ram ewe’s Titus yarn reminded me of . . .

. . . and also because the twisted stitch cable panel that runs up the centre of both sweater and hat is caktin-reminiscent.

These designs are simple and classic, so I thought it would be fun to style them in two completely different ways to give you a sense of how they might be worn. First of all, I donned some tweeds and took to the woods. . .

Styled this way, the garments have an almost Edwardian feel. . .

The sweater is tunic-length with sleek tailored lines that sit really nicely with a long skirt.

. . . and neutral yarns work very well with tweeds.

. . . but worn with jeans the sweater suddenly seems much more contemporary

Now, here’s a thing: for about the past decade I have not possessed a pair of jeans, and for the past five there have not been long trousers of any kind in my wardrobe. The only breeks I wore were short ones, in what passes here for Summer. But I got hold of this particular pair especially to style Catkin — and I have honestly found that I cannot take them off. They are just so bloody comfortable for pottering about in, and absolutely ideal with a pair of boots for Bruce-walking. These breeks are a revelation! I am a breek convert! I heart my breeks!

Ahem. Returning to the sweater, you’ll see that it has gentle waist shaping and neat set-in sleeves.

The Titus yarn is lovely to wear next to the skin.

The sweater is knit completely seamlessly, and mostly in the round (the exception being a little back-and-forth to construct the upper body). The sleeves are knit top-down, with short rows making the length easy to adjust for the perfect fit. The end result is very versatile, and is, I think, a style that will suit most women’s body shapes (the size range in the pattern is from 32″ to 50″). Adding, or removing length from the body is very easily done, and there is a note in the pattern about this.

The idea behind the hat was that it could be whipped up over the course of an evening or two, both as a gauge swatch for the sweater, and as a means of familiarising yourself with the structure of the cable panel.

I love the lines of those twisted stitches!

My intention with these designs was to provide a simple, wearable showcase for a lovely British yarn, and I’m really pleased with how they have turned out.

Oh, and if you’d like to see an actual CATKIN for yourself, baa ram ewe currently have the sweater sample that I’m wearing in these photos in their Leeds shop. Why not pop in and have a gander?

I’ve produced both patterns together as an 8 page booklet, which is now available digitally through ravelry, or in print via my Mag Cloud Store. If you are just interested in the hat, a separate pattern for that is also available.

Happy knitting!

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

Shetland

March 9, 2013 By Kate in design, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Shetland Tags: Ann Cleeves, BBC, BBC1, Crime Drama, Douglas Henshall, Kate Davies, Kate Davies designs, knitwear, Red Bones, Shetland 106 Comments

Recognise the hat?

Yes! Its my Peerie Flooers!

This hat, along with a couple of my other designs, will be making their first TV appearance tomorrow in Shetland, a two-part BBC crime drama based on Ann Cleeves’ novel Red Bones. Exciting!

You can see some more stills and the trailer here, and, if you are in the UK, you can watch the first part of Shetland tomorrow night at 9pm on BBC1.

I’m not very well at the moment, so am unfortunately very behind with many things, including my email. If you have been waiting to hear from me, I’ll endeavour to get back to you this coming week. Apologies 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.

Industry

December 9, 2012 By Kate in Colours of Shetland, Kate Davies Designs Tags: Colours of Shetland, Kate Davies, logistics, post 87 Comments

Here’s what Mel, Gordon, Tom and I have been doing for the past couple of days. . .

. . .when I tell you that this pretty pile is about 10 boxes shy of the total amount of orders we have processed just this weekend, you will have some sense of the scale of operations here at Colours of Shetland dispatch central. When the postie comes to collect them tomorrow, these books will be winging their way to Hawaii and Tokyo, Hamburg and Goteborg, Baton Rouge and Vancouver.

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But worry not, everyone — I’m getting lots of sleep, and next week I’m definitely returning to some knitting.

puffins!

November 30, 2012 By Kate in beasties, Colours of Shetland, design, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Shetland, textiles Tags: Colours of Shetland, design, john moncrieff, Kate Davies, Kate Davies designs, knitting, Lerwick, Lodberries, puffin mantle, puffin sweater, puffins, Shetland 69 Comments

puffinpattern

So, I suspect it won’t be hard for you to guess what provided the inspiration for the last pair of designs in the collection . . .

Puffin-Portrait
©John Moncrief Photography

These two designs really were an awful lot of fun to work on . . .

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mantle1

For what is more fun than a puffin?

puffin-in-flight
©John Moncrief Photography

Um, garments inspired by puffins, that’s what!

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mantle3

Here we have a puffin sweater . . .

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. . . and a puffin mantle . . .

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Both of which feature the same six-shade garter stitch chevron pattern. . .

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. . . which echoes the colours and texture of the beaks of Shetland’s most beloved summer visitor.

puffinthrift
©John Moncrief Photography

In Colours of Shetland you’ll find several puffin-related treats . . .

puffin7
©John Moncrief Photography

Including talented Shetland photographer, John Moncrieff’s, fabulous puffin portraits . . .

puffin-sandeels
©John Moncrief Photography

. . . and an intriguing, puffin-related MAP that has been specifically designed to accompany my essay in the book. All will be revealed as you turn the pages . . .

puffin5

These designs are simple and fun and I love, love, love both of them. Pardon my hubris, but I have to mention that when I’ve worn the Puffin Sweater in Shetland, it is the design that has drawn most comment, from airport security staff who complemented me on my ‘blendin’, to local knitters and designers whose positive remarks really mean the world to me.

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The mantle incorporates further decreases into the pattern to create a neatly-fitting and dramatic-looking wrap.

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We shot the mantle photographs around Lerwick’s lodberries on a quiet, grey sort of day.

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But I love the way the bright colours of the chevron pattern stand out against the stone.

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Yarn and sizing information for the Puffin Sweater and Puffin Mantle can now be found on Ravelry.

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Stevenson sweater and gauntlets

November 29, 2012 By Kate in books, Colours of Shetland, design, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Shetland Tags: Bressay lighthouse, Colours of Shtetland, Kate Davies, Kate Davies designs, knitting, lighthouses, Nic Blackmore, printing, publishing, Shetland, Stevenson Gauntlets, Stevenson Lighthouses, Stevenson Sweater 51 Comments

Ahoy there! I have two complementary designs to show you today — the Stevenson Sweater and Gauntlets.

These designs were inspired by Shetland’s iconic lighthouses . . .

. . . such as the Bressay light, which provides the dramatic backdrop to these photographs.

Seven of Shetland’s lighthouses, including the one at Bressay, were designed and constructed by a pioneering family of engineers — the Stevensons (about whom you can read more in the book).

The golden paintwork that distinguishes a Stevenson lighthouse, together with classic matelot stripes, inspired this pair of quintessentially nautical designs.

With simple shaping, and a single round of colourwork per repeat, these are incredibly easy patterns to knit.

The gauntlets will keep your hands and wrists cosy in chill sea breezes . . .

. . .and the sweater is just the ticket for a windy cliffside walk.

Because I know you like to see my styling assistant — here he is, supervising the progress of the shoot.

And having a nice sit down while I gamely attempt to hug a lighthouse . . .(can you spot the Bonxie / Arctic Skua in this shot?)

Yarn requirements and sizing information for the Stevenson Sweater and Stevenson Gauntlets are now listed on Ravelry.

And I just have to let you know that the books have now left the printers and are actually on their way to me. Nic, my amazing art and production editor, has just shown me a copy of the book on Skype, and, though I do say so myself, it really does look bloody amazing. I’m sure you are getting a sense now of the aesthetic structure of the book — that is — how each of my ‘colour stories’ has its own distinctive palette and theme. In the book, these individual palettes distinguish each section, through the patterns, charts, essays and photography right down to the level of fonts and layout. It looks like it is the truly lovely object I always wanted it to be!! I foresee a very busy weekend signing books (each copy purchased from my online shop will be signed) and then we will be ready to put them on sale on Monday.

Book deliveries permitting, I’ll be back tomorrow to show you the book’s final pair of colourful designs. . . .

Until then . . .

Ursula Cardigan

November 28, 2012 By Kate in Colours of Shetland, design, fairisle, Kate Davies, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, patterns, Shetland, wildflowers Tags: Colours of Shetland, design, fair isle, Kate Davies, Kate Davies designs, knitting, Shetland, Ursula Cardigan, Ursula Venables 43 Comments

Its time to show you another design, from the next of my Shetland ‘colour stories’. This is the Ursula Cardigan.

This design is named for writer and naturalist, Ursula Venables, who lived and worked in Shetland during the 1940s and ’50s. (You can read more about her in my book.)

Ursula’s writing about wildflowers, as well as my own experience of Shetland’s luminous summer landscape, provided the very feminine palette of this colour story.

While the distinctive zigzagging stitch pattern was inspired by a striking 1940s knitted garment I noticed very briefly on screen in a BBC drama.

This cardigan is probably the most ‘challenging’ design in Colours of Shetland, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be tackled by a confident beginner. It is knit in the round, with steek bridges placed for the front openings and armscyes. After knitting the body, the armscye steeks are cut, and the sleeves are worked top-down in Barbara Walker fashion.

The front steek is cut, and lined with a pretty ribbon trim.

Vintage glass buttons provide the perfect finish. . .

. . .and snaps are used in place of holes to help the button bands retain their shape over time.

This is a classic garment, that, if made carefully, should see its wearer through many summers.

We shot these photographs near St Ninian’s Isle, in Shetland’s South mainland. Every time I look at them, I long to be back there again.

I think I’ll take the Ursula cardigan back to Shetland again next year, to enjoy some more glorious summer days.

Yarn requirements and sizing information for the Ursula Cardigan can now be found on Ravelry.

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.

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