By: Kate Davies Designs
design, Kate Davies Designs, knitting, Knitting Wester Ross, landscape, Scotland, textiles, Wester Ross, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Isle Maree

A woman standing by the shore of Loch Maree, with a large wicker basket on her back and mountains in the background.

Good morning from the shores of beautiful Loch Maree! Today sees the launch of the first pattern from Knitting Wester Ross, available exclusively to club members.

A woman stands by the shore of Loch Maree, wearing a dark purple cardigan with decorative pocket linings and a gray dress, holding a woven basket. She gazes thoughtfully into the distance.

Isle Maree is a cardigan which is comfortable, yet elegant.

Close-up of the back hem of a dark purple cardigan with a light cream stranded colorwork pattern, worn by a person with long hair, against a backdrop of Loch Maree.

Knitting this cardigan begins at the hem, with the pocket linings, and a stranded colourwork band, which has a small steek inserted at the centre front. If you are new to steeks, the one on Isle Maree is a good introduction to the technique. There are just 30 rows of colourwork, and the steek stitches are easily reinforced before cutting using the needle felted method described by Gretchen Funk for Modern Daily Knitting. As steeks go, this one’s a breeze.

After reinforcing and cutting the colourwork at the centre front, the pocket linings are joined in (niftily squirrelling away the steek’s edges) and the body of the cardigan is worked back and forth, to your preferred length, to the underarms. The sample here has been worked to the high-hip, but I think both a cropped length, or low-hip version would also look fantastic. It all depends on where you want your pockets!

A woman stands by the shore of Loch Maree, wearing a dark cardigan over a light skirt. The background features mountains and water under a cloudy sky.

The knitting of the upper body of Isle Maree proceeds quickly, as the neckline is shaped into a classic V. The sleeves have a tailored, set-in shape, and are worked top down, with short-row shaping. I think this technique creates a really lovely, well-fitting sleeve cap, which works well for all body shapes.

A woman standing by the shore of Loch Maree, wearing a purple cardigan with a patterned hem, gazing out over the water towards the mountains.

The finish on this cardigan is sleek and elegant, with button bands, and pocket tops all featuring the same narrow corded edge. This creates a smooth, gently curving slope along each front edge. . .

Detail of a person buttoning a cardigan featuring a purple color and a patterned hem.

. . . with near-invisibly inserted i-cord buttonholes. . .

A woman wearing a dark purple cardigan with a patterned bottom, buttoning it up while standing by the shores of a lake.

(my favourite kind of buttonhole!)

A woman stands by the water, wearing a dark purple cardigan with button closures and patterned pocket linings, looking down at the garment.

The simple lines of Isle Maree mean that this is a cardigan which looks superb buttoned-up, or worn open . . .

A woman stands by the shores of Loch Maree, wearing a dark purple cardigan with snowflake patterns on the pockets, complemented by a light dress.

It’s a garment with room for layers underneath, and best of all, perhaps, it’s a cardigan with pockets.

A woman standing by a loch wearing a dark purple cardigan with a patterned lower hem and pockets, paired with a light dress and statement necklace.

The palette combines the Alto shade of our Schiehallion yarn (a deep, dark, moody purple) with the Riach shade of our Ooskit (a cool, pale grey). As is probably obvious, I’m a fan of this bold two-tone look for stranded colourwork, but more subtle shade contrasts and combinations would work wonderfully as well. If you are a fan of this colourway, which we have kits in all sizes in the KDD shop.

A woman stands on a rocky shore beside a lake, wearing a navy cardigan with a patterned hem and buttons, a white top, and a long grey skirt. She holds a woven basket in one hand, gazing thoughtfully at the water with mountains in the background.

We shot these photos with Kate C on the shores of Loch Maree, at a spot from which many kayakers set off to paddle out the island from which this design takes its name. We’ll be doing exactly that in Sunday’s essay, as we travel over the water to Isle Maree to find out more about the significance of this very special, deeply atmospheric place.

A person wearing a dark sweater and light pants stands by a lake, facing away from the camera, with a woven basket on their back and mountains in the background.

Before I leave you, I wanted to mention the beautiful, willow-woven baskets that Kate C is carrying in these photographs, which are the work of another Scottish craftswoman, “Stick Knitter”, Lisa Campbell. I came across Lisa’s baskets a few years ago at the Barn in Banchory and found them absolutely stunning: it was one of those interesting moments when the irrefutably hand-made beauty of an object made me quite emotional. You’ll find Lisa on Etsy, where each of her baskets is made, by her, to order. I’m a big fan.

A woman walking along the shore of Loch Maree, wearing a dark cardigan and light colored skirt, with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.

Enjoy your Friday, everyone, and enjoy the Isle Maree pattern, which all you lovely Wester Ross club members will find arriving in your Ravelry libraries or inboxes very shortly.

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