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Over the last year I have been working with Quince & Co. on 3 new designs published as part of their Spring/Summer 2021 collections. Stråla (tee shirt) and Lätta (pullover) are part of the Linen I: Sparrow collection of garments and Tenir is part of the Shawls 2021 collection. Quince & Co. yarns are a delight to work with and the design process has been smooth from initial concept to final editing. I love all 3 designs but have a soft spot for the oversized shawl, Tenir, knit in cosy DK merino wool making it perfect for snuggling up as autumn closes in.
Lätta is a light linen pullover featuring a knot created by twisting 2 strips around one another and seaming. The three quarter length sleeves are perfect for spring and the pullover is reversible, allowing you to wear the knot on the front or the back.
Stråla is a summer tee with an easy construction, featuring a simple colour work motif across the décolletage. The colour work is created using mosaic knitting, a slip stitch technique ideal for geometric designs. Intended to be worn oversized, Stråla is the ideal breezy top for hot summer days. Both Lätta and Stråla are knit in 4 ply weight Sparrow, a stunning 100% linen yarn that works wonderfully for spring and summer knitting.
Working with Quince & Co. has been a pleasure - stay tuned for more collaborations coming very soon!
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I have been extremely blessed and have avoided most of the worst consequences of the pandemic, but of course I miss family and friends, and my birthday this year is not quite what I might have expected. Despite this I am having a lovely day with my husband and children, so I have decided to celebrate with a birthday sale on all of my self published patterns. If you purchase through Ravelry the 33% discount is automatically applied, if you purchase through my website use code BIRTHDAY at the checkout.  Secret design work in progress. I hope that this time next year I can celebrate with more people in person, but for now I am grateful to be healthy, happy, and safe.
I had so much fun designing this cardigan, and I thought it might be interesting to do a brief run down of how submitting to and designing for a publication like Knit Now works. Back in November 2019 I spotted the call for submissions on the Knit Now website and decided to put together some ideas. I was particularly inspired by these images on the submission moodboard: I love wearing loose, flowing cardigans over summer dresses during hot weather, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to design my own! Oversized lace can be really effective for summer garments so I swatched up a diamond lace motif and did a (not very good!) sketch of the basic shape of the garment.   I put together a document with these images and an outline of my design concept, including details on construction and sizing, and sent it off for consideration. I am thinking about writing a blog post about how I construct my submissions, so stay tuned if you are interested in the process! A few days later the lovely editor over at Knit Now contacted me to say that they wanted to commission Freyr for issue #119. I spent the next couple of months writing the pattern and knitting the sample using the yarn suggested by the team at Knit Now, Stylecraft Linen Drape in "River". Linen Drape is a lovely DK weight linen/viscose blend, perfect for summer garments. I decided to use a slightly unusual construction - the cardigan is knit flat in one shaped piece and then seamed under the arms and down the sides. With very little in the way of complicated shaping, Freyr would make a lovely first lace project for a confident beginner. The pattern contains both charts and written instructions for the lace motif, and is graded for 9 adult sizes.   I feel so lucky to be sharing a publication with the other amazing patterns in this month's issue, what a wonderful selection of summer designs! I hope you enjoy reading the magazine, I can't wait to settle down with a coffee and read mine from cover to cover.
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AuthorFrances Othen-Wales - Knitwear designer and terrible blogger. Archives
June 2021
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