Good morning, and happy Friday! It’s pattern release day, and it’s a special one: there are two designs for you today, both of which have been created in collaboration with the Arctic Convoy Museum in Aultbea, Wester Ross.
Like many areas of rural and coastal Scotland, the landscape of Wester Ross was profoundly shaped by World War II. War affected the shape of the land itself (a topic which we will explore in greater depth this weekend), and also its culture, as it became a place of wartime memory and commemoration. But what role did Wester Ross play in World War II? Well, this was the location from which the Arctic Convoys – transporting more than 4 million tonnes of vital supplies to war-torn Soviet Russia – gathered and departed. In these perilous operations, whose appalling conditions compounded the constant threat of enemy attack, more than 3000 sailors and merchant seamen lost their lives, and yet, in the bigger post-war picture, their stories remain relatively little known. The Arctic Convoy Museum in Aultbea exists to tell those stories, and I’ve created this week’s designs to help support their work.
The colours of my Arctic Convoy designs echo those of the Arctic Convoy tartan . . .
. . . and the excellent model in these photographs is the curator of the Arctic Convoy Museum, Karen Buchanan (who club members will remember meeting last weekend on our virtual trip together to Isle Maree). Hello, Karen!
The Arctic Convoy hat and cowl, are both knitted in exactly same way, from side to side. Beginning with a provisional cast on, stockinette blocks of two different shades are divided by welts, which are knitted in a third colour . . .
. . . while increases and decreases create a smooth fabric that sits neatly on the bias.
When the cast-on beginning is invisibly joined to the end with a three needle bind-off, this stripey bias fabric resolves itself into a very satisfying tubular swirl.
Both the hat and cowl are constructed in exactly the same way – as sideways knit swirly bias tubes – with varying depths, and widths of stripes.
This variation generates both patterns’ different sizes – small and large. Here, Karen is wearing the small version of both designs.
The yarn I’ve chosen for the Arctic Convoy Hat and Cowl is John Arbon Devonia 4 ply – a luscious, lustrous blend of Exmoor Blueface, Bluefaced Leicester and Romney fleeces. This yarn has a lovely smooth hand, and knits up into a wonderfully warm woolly fabric (both of which are ideal for these designs).
We have put together kits in the KDD shop for you: with the yarn included, you’ll be able to make a small hat, AND a small cowl, OR a large hat OR a large cowl. Take your pick!
All sales of these kits support the important work of the Arctic Convoy museum, which is now raising funds for a much-needed extension to its exhibition space and new research room. Pattern sales support that work too: I’ve donated the rights to these designs to the museum, and anyone can purchase this as a PDF download from the museum shop.
For club members, these patterns are a bonus, and even if you don’t intend to knit a hat or cowl, please do consider making a small donation to the Arctic Convoy Museum to support their important work.
We’ll be hearing more about that work tomorrow, when Karen joins us in a bonus newsletter, and on Sunday, club members will hear (and see) more about a project Tom has been working on, for which I’ve really enjoyed writing the introductory essay.
And I’ve really enjoyed creating the Arctic Convoy Hat and Cowl as well: they are straightforward, slightly unusual knits with an interesting construction. This is the kind of design work I genuinely thrive on, where I’m collaborating with friends, and thinking about history with every stitch. So rewarding.
I do hope you enjoy these patterns – let’s raise some funds for the Arctic Convoy Museum’s research room!
Buy an Arctic Convoy Kit from the KDD shop
Purchase the Arctic Convoy patterns from the ACM shop
Make a donation to the Arctic Convoy Museum
Arctic Convoy Hat and Cowl on Ravelry
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So inspiring and I love the design route! I am also struck by the fabulous smock that Karen is wearing in the photos – is there a source for the pattern for this please?
this is a bespoke smock which I had custom-made for me at Warp and Weft in Hastings: https://warpandweftoldtown.com
Reading a Karen Pirie novel set in Wester Ross now! Sounds like a beautiful landscape!
Kate, several years ago, I was attracted to your site while doing research on my Scot ancestors from Islay. I was not expecting relations to Lairds and Ladies, just wanting to know more about the life they left behind in Scotland. After your essays , patterns and books on Colonsay, and, Argyll’s Secret Coast (Loch Fyne), I thought you had touched on all my family roots — and peaked many more of my curiosities about Scotland. However, today’s post is a treasured surprise! My 1/2 Scot father served aboard U. S. Merchant Ships in WW2. Like most of his generation, he seldom talked about his service, only commenting, “never underestimate the power of water, Janet. I’ve seen whole troop ships swallowed at sea.” It was the cigarettes he started smoking at sea “to calm his nerves” that consigned his death, and it is only recently that the U. S. Merchant Mariners have been given the same recognition and rights of other service members. So, its a given I’m contributing to the Arctic Convoy Museum. To give credence to my dad’s words, I suggest watching the Apple TV movie “Greyhound,” starring/directed/produced by Tom Hanks, and meticulously
researched by my neighbor, David Crank. For me, it was a personal, emotional understanding of exactly what my dad meant.
So few people appreciate the important wartime contribution of the merchant mariners, Janet, and it took an appalling amount of time to recognise that contribution. I hope you have an opportunity to visit Scotland!
My father, Victor , was on Arctic convoys. He told me that the crew were not issued with warm-enough uniforms and resorted to wearing all their available clothes at once . He could have done with this hat and cowl . I got a posthumous medal for him for having endured these gruelling trips . He never spoke about the experience beyond how cold he was .
Your father endured so much, Hannah. Such terrifying and terrible journeys.
My father served on the arctic convoys. And survived. His ship had a torpedo aimed at them but he had to watch as it passed under them hitting the vessel in front. He was dead before we could get his arctic star, and the Russian medal he should have received could not be awarded posthumously according to the British government. The final insult to him coming from a family that had served king country and British business over seas for many generations, was that his British passport was removed as his father’s has been and he was only allowed a Gibraltar one stamped with right of abode .. at least my mother was born in London. My great grand mother was a Macleod born in the west indies – a decendant of a man transported after fighting at Culloden . I will knit this one one in his memory
Thanks for sharing your father’s important story, Jacqueline.
A great museum to visit. The guides are really knowledgeable. The convoys were able to break the blockade on Murmansk during WW2 and deliver aid to the starving Russian people. I find it very sad that since the war in Ukraine there can be no Russian visitors to help commemorate the event. One of the ‘back stories’ of war.
So beautiful and interesting with this construction
Thank you
Nicole