One of the most rewarding aspects of this very rewarding job is seeing folk happily wearing the stuff that you’ve designed. I particularly enjoy seeing knitters’ inventive modifications of my work, and recently came across three versions of my Boreal sweater that are so wonderful that I just had to show you.
Here are friends Shannon, Maggy, and Carol looking completely amazing in their Boreal cardigans. Each size of the Boreal design is totally symmetrical down a central axis . . .
. . . this symmetry makes it really easy to convert into a cardigan. You just add a few stitches to the centre of the body charts, work them in a striped or checkerboard steek sequence, cut the front up the middle when you’re done, and then add button band edgings. Shannon, Carol and Maggy also modified the design by knitting it in the opposite direction to the way it is written — top down.
Again, this is much easier to do than one might think: its simply a matter of turning the charts upside down (each size has its own separate set of charts), and working in the opposite direction, reversing the shaping instructions. I really like the neat side pockets that Carol and Maggy have added to their cardigans.
But what I love most of all about Shannon, Maggy and Carol’s modified Boreals is that they are theirs. Each seems to have selected a palette that perfectly suits their colouring; each cardigan looks totally different, but each completely suits its respective wearer. To see knitters happy in beautiful sweaters makes me happy — particularly when they have been produced and modified from my design.
Shannon, Carol, and Maggy kept careful notes about the modifications they made, which you can see on ravelry (follow the links to see their individual project pages).
Thanks so much, Shannon, Carol and Maggy for allowing me to share these photos!
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