Good morning, and a very merry Boxing Day, or Saint Stephen’s day, or December 26th to you! I’m here to introduce you to another design from the Colour Compass collection – Zickety!
Zickety is a patchwork cushion, created from modular hexagons, all of which are seamlessly joined together. The pattern name references the first number in a children’s counting rhyme: Hickory, dickory dock in Scots being rendered Zickety, dickory. I have a bit of a thing for dialect counting systems (there are many regional variations in Scotland, Wales and the English north, that are often related to counting sheep) and this pattern involves quite a bit of counting, as you knit 40 hexagonal shapes, joining each one to the next, Zeendi, Teendi, Taedheri, Mundheri, Baombe, Hecturi, Zecturi . . . .
I also have a bit of a thing for hexagonal shapes in knitting: they are source of so much six-sided knitting fun! From hat crowns . . .
. . . to blankets
I had a feeling that the six fold geometry of the modular hexagon would lend itself really well to being knitted as the three-dimensional container of a cushion (pillow) because the sides of the shapes would slot neatly together, when folded, to form a nifty envelope.
Interlocking hexies! so very neat! so pleasing!
In developing the Zickety pattern, I was greatly assisted by hexie-knitter extraordinaire, Beverley, who not only put up with my re-writing of the closure instructions several times (frogging and re-knitting her sample in response) but whipped up 24 beautiful hexagonal swatches in every shade of Milarrochy Tweed.
. . . which you will see that we have featured throughout the Colour Compass e-book and which really make the different shades of Milarrochy sing!
While helping me to hone the pattern instructions, Beverley knitted up her Zickety sample in this lovely palette of ice-cream pastels. Yum!
. . . and we then sent the pattern to another brilliant Colour Compass knitter, Debbie, asking her to test the pattern by knitting a sample in rather different, spicy shades.
Both Zicketys are very beautiful, and I am pleased with this pattern, whose instructions, as a result of their careful testing, I hope you’ll find both intuitive and knitterly. Thank you, Beverley, thank you, Debbie.
The point of this pattern, of course, is to see what you can do with blocks of colour: work your hexies in a limited palette, or experiment with a scrappy version, of many different shades.
Modular knitting affords many opportunities for colour play . . .
. . . and if you are hesitant about developing your a colourful palette for a garment, you might find that a small project like Zickety is a great low-stakes place to start.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the colours in which you choose to knit your Zicketys and hope that you enjoy this pattern!
Happy Zickety knitting!
The Colour Compass ebook is now available from the KDD shop or Ravelry.
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What fun! I have not yet tried knitting hexagons, but they are a very satisfying shape!! Thank you for the lovely inspiration!
*Extremely* pleasing! And I love the action shots, what a fun way to show off the design.
Really clever and cool. I wanted to comment on Possit but somehow it flew in a different direction! I was totally amazed that Possit could be knitted with only the ‘small’ balls of yarn in that box! You are the ONE :) Yes, Happy days to you as well.
Dear Kate,
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the daily blogs from Felix during the Colour Compass calendar. I was unable to join and actually get the yarn pack but was absolutely delighted at the daily unwrapping of the colours by Felix! And then all the beautiful pics sent in daily on Ravelry from the lucky participants. Was a highlight of each day leading up to Christmas.
And now enjoying the reveal of the new patterns. This club was magnificent! I can’t wait for what you, Tom and staff come up with next!
Rebecca Hammond
I hope you are managing a proper break despite your festive pattern drops. Zippedy is a perfect Boxing Day knit. A question – if we have purchased the colour compass calendar, when do we get the e-book? After you release the individual patterns, or, am I mistaken – do we instead buy the e-book? I should probably have paid better attention so apologies for asking.
Hi, if you bought the colour compass calendar earlier this year, the download code for your ebook is included in the 24th package. If you have lost or discarded your code ticket, just email us on help@katedaviesdesigns.com
I hope Beverley won’t mind if I copy (steal!) her idea of a shadecard of knitted hexagons, so useful for colour planning.