The Treehouse patterns

Treehouse mitts
Treehouse mitts
Treehouse hat
Treehouse hat
Treehouse hat
Treehouse hat
 

 

These two sweet little patterns are my newest contribution for the 6 bits storybooks magazine, issue 2, Dwell. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to create this set of pattern, and how much of my soul has been captured into them (aka my horcruxes).

A couple of months ago, Melissa shared her idea of having a photoshoot in the woodsy state of Oregon, and I remember precisely the expression on my face, and how much I wanted to cast on for this project. As soon as the yarn arrived in the mail, I immediately cast on for the hat and used the Stonehedge Fiber Mill, Shepherd's wool in the sage colorway. Designing this pattern was a lot of fun, and to be honest I don't really remember the creating process. It happened very suddently and I don't have very clear memories of sketching or doing anything else than knitting cables to create the branches of the tree. It's as if my mind was in pilot mode, and the only thing that I had to do was to coordinate my hands.

When the hat was done I cast on the mittens. This part was a bit more challenging because I already had a pattern in my mind. But I guess the tree stitch that I repeated so many times on the hat hadn't left me completely, and I happened to be craving for more. So I reused the pattern and adapted it for the mittens. Oh and did I mentionned that the yarn used was Camelia Fiber Company, merino sport in the Sylvan colorway? It couldn't have been more appropriate than that.

As for the naming, the patterns for this issue are named after specific places. Melissa has been living all around the world, and so she used that as an inpiration for her own patterns. For my patterns, I tried to imagine what my perfect place dwelling would be. And my answer for that is either a hobbit hole or a treehouse. Since the photoshoot took place in the middle of the woods, I thought that the treehouse was more appropriate, and who knows, maybe next time we will be shooting in hobbitown!

Swatches diary: Selkie swatch in Jamieson & Smith

Swatches diary: Selkie swatch in Jamieson & Smith
Swatches diary: Selkie swatch in Jamieson & Smith
Swatches diary: Selkie swatch in Jamieson & Smith
 

 

It's been quite a while since I shared a swatch diary entry in here. Since Selkie has been released, I thought I could share the little swatch that led to create the pattern. This swatch is the first one that I made for the pattern, but I think that in total, I have probably knit five or six of them. I usually have a very clear vision of what I want the pattern to look like but this time around it was a bit more foggy in my head, so I let the swatch "speak to me" and give myself some time to consider all the different possibilities. I think I started swatching for the pattern back in May and only finished the shawl in November. From all the swatches that I made, I felt the more confident with my first choice, and picked the original sample for the pattern. I really liked its simplicity and the delicate aspect of the lace.

The yarn used for the pattern is the Jamieson&Smith 2ply jumper weight. I don't think that I could have choosen any better yarn for a pattern that is inspired by the Shetland Isles. for the main section of the shawl, I knew that I wanted to use a cream/ off-white colorway, and I actually had some leftovers from the Shwook hat that I made last year. The 2ply jumper weight come in so many different colorways, and the color combo for the shawl can be infinite really.