Tag: colourwork

  • worn

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    The best things in my wardrobe are made of wool. Some of these are ‘vintage’ items that have worn incredibly well. I thought I’d show you one of my favourites today. I picked up this hand-knitted cardigan second-hand. From its shape, patterns, buttons, and the kind of worsted- spun Shetland wool that was used to…

  • frenzy

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Happily, I always love to knit, but it has been a while since I have found myself in a total knitting frenzy. This particular frenzy struck on Friday, took over my brain and hands, and meant that I had to knit all weekend until I was done. To explain: on Friday morning, I popped into…

  • A conversation with SpillyJane

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    (SpillyJane’s Isidora Mittens.) Playing with pattern and colour are probably what I like most about designing. Over the past few months, I’ve found myself thinking about this a lot, and considering the different ways that pattern is put to use in the colourwork of the designers I admire. At the top of my list has…

  • contrast

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I’m playing with a number of colourwork ideas at the moment. I always find it interesting to see the sometimes unpredictable ways that colours behave in a swatch – shades in the skein, that you might think would contrast sharply, often seem to swallow each other up when knitted. My personal colour palette is dominated…

  • paperdolls redux

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Probably the most rewarding aspect of designing is seeing what knitters actually do with one’s patterns. Ravelry is brilliant for this (as for so many things) and it is sad but true that I regularly peruse the project galleries, and am often to be found in a state of ludicrous excitement over the latest cute…

  • wwwwo #1

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I’ve written up the pattern for this wee headband — item #1 in wazz’s woollen winter walking outfit (wwwwo for short). The pattern is very simple — just a single large star repeat — certainly suitable as a first colourwork project for those who’ve not tried the technique before. You’ll need springy fingering-weight yarn in…

  • obliging

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Last weekend I was lucky enough to visit Rosie’s Yarn Cellar, and spend a lovely afternoon with Jen, Jenna, Wendy, Magda, Lisa, and many other knitters. It was so nice to spend a few hours knitting and chatting in exceptionally good company, and when I left, they presented me with some good, strong, black leaf…

  • live neep

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    So the neep went live! It is now available here or here. And there is more — an alternate colourway: beet heid! (details included with the pattern). I reckon if you had a peek over at Liz’s in a couple of days you might just be able to spot a beet. My grateful thanks to…

  • more neeps . . . more beer

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    In a mysterious repeat of last week’s missives, today we have more neeps . . and more beer. If I am now inhabiting a turnip-and-beer filled time warp, there are probably worse places to be. Here you see my entirely non-literal rendition of the turnip tops and here, how the turnip roots feed down into…

  • congrats

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    It’s Dollheid prize time! Congratulations to ten randomly-selected commenters: Celia, Luisa, Arndis, Lillicroche, Yulian, Maaike, Lizzi, Pat (J) and two Marias (one German, one Canadian) to whom I’ve just emailed a copy of the pattern. And thanks for all your comments, everyone, which I enjoyed reading: I was thrilled to discover that dollheid translates into…

  • in colour

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I’ve been thinking a lot about colour of late, and about how closely one’s experience of colour is tied up with one’s experience of landscape. I had a conversation with Mel the other day — concerning the crazy hues of the lichens she’d seen in a particular West Highland location — and was reminded of…

  • twee

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    twee, a. Now only in depreciatory use: affectedly dainty or quaint. (Oxford English Dictionary) I’ve just knitted something that is undoubtedly, incredibly twee. But I am really hoping it falls on twee’s acceptable side. Because however “affectedly quaint” it is, I love it! I have had a serious thing about patterns that feature repeating figures…