Tonnach KAL – every one a winner!

Our Tonnach KAL (which began back in July) has now “officially” concluded, although many of you are still knitting and chatting about your work in progress over in the KDD Ravelry group – long may this continue! I’ve counted more than 100 finished cardigans, and it has been such a joy over the past few months to see so many knitters sharing their shade choices, techniques, and expertise. I’ve particularly enjoyed seeing so many different palettes: the finished project thread is full of so much colour and inspiration that it was extremely difficult for Claire, Maylin and I to single out some “winners” . . . but here are a few of our favourites . . .

First up is Claire, with her finished Tonnach, and effortless high-waisted styling, both of which I very much admire. Claire says she has been feeling “a lack of green” in her wardrobe lately, and here pairs two different green shades with a deep, dark purple, to glorious effect.

Many knitters created beautiful Tonnachs for themselves in the colourways selected by myself, Maylin, Claire and Kate C. Kate C’s Funkadelic-inspired combination was particularly popular, and it makes me really happy to think of all those hot pink and orange Tonnachs out and about in the world, brightening things wherever they go.

Steph describes herself as “not a cardigan person” and so decided to knit herself a pullover featuring the Kate C colourway and the Tonnach chevron motif. By combining and adapting elements of different patterns, Steph created a fabulous garment that really works for her. This is Steph’s first attempt at (re) designing, and I love the result. Keep at it, Steph!

Several knitters used their Colour Compass boxes of Milarrochy Tweed to swatch and develop palettes or, in Elizabeth’s case, to knit an entire cardigan. Elizabeth enjoyed the use of reflective symmetry in the original Tonnach palettes, but wondered if she might explore this with wider stripes and at much larger scale. Following the “spectrum” palette from our Colour Compass ebook, and excluding the high-contrast neutrals of Bruce and Hirst, Elizabeth carefully planned a sequence that mirrored itself on the body around its lightest, central point, and which could then be worked in reverse shade order down the sleeves.

“What I really enjoyed about it”, says Elizabeth, “was seeing the way the different colours worked with each other.  I was pleasantly surprised that colours I didn’t really like (Asphodel and Cowslip for example) worked really well alongside the others.” Congratulations, Elizabeth, on your gorgeous finished cardigan!

Several knitters chose to replicate our Tonnach kit colourways with their own yarn from stash. Last year, Irene received a generous bequest of a large quantity of original Shetland yarn from the 1970s and 80s. From this, she was able to put together a vintage palette that very precisely echoed my own colourway. That’s such a gorgeous, glowy red, Irene! Congratulations on putting your Shetland stash to such great use.

Juliet has what she describes as a ” robust” stash of Shetland 4 ply, from which she developed this gorgeous palette featuring five shades of Jamieson & Smith jumper weight for her Tonnach. “I’m particularly in love with the beautiful saturated blue of FC37,” she says, “and wanted to build something cool and watery around it.” Who can argue with the undeniable power of FC37, or indeed Juliet’s fabulous finished garment?

Jenny knitted her own Tonnach in this gorgeous combination of soft pastels and deep purple, from her stash of British hand-dyed yarns. I particularly love the muted pink that Jenny chose, her selection of buttons (which really picks up that grey-ish blue) and the enterprising way she managed yarn shortages by swapping out shade positions in the sleeves.

There were so many creative Tonnach palettes to admire throughout this KAL, and I saw many that I loved. For example, I really enjoyed the creative way that Cornelia chose to echo her main shades (here, Milarrochy Tweed’s Tarbet and Cranachan) as central contrasting single stripes, creating a subtle alteration in the pattern’s colour rhythms which I find very pleasing.

But Cornelia’s not just working on one Milarrochy Tweed Tonnach . . .

. . . nor, indeed two . . .

. . . .but three! I shall say nothing about Cornelia’s evident trepidation about travelling to sleeve island, but instead note how much I love each of the different palettes she’s put together. I’m a particular fan of pinks and greens together, and Cornelia’s combination of Gaskin and Foxglove in Tonnach number 3 is simply splendid.

If you feel in need of further colour inspiration, I hope to show you a few more fabulous prize-winning Tonnachs over the next few days, but I really wanted to get this post out now in order to give you a quick heads-up that I will be announcing the launch of our brand new club, tomorrow, Sunday 12th. Do keep an eye on your inbox, and the KDD shop!