a taste of Northmavine

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!)