Wow. Another six months just went WHOOSH… and were gone.

2019 has been all about designing garment patterns and this episode I have not one, but TWO, newly published patterns to show you. Click below for the video cast or scroll down for the words. For the month of August 2019 followers of Yarn Ambassador can have 20% off any of my garment patterns! Just use the code
YarnAmb20 at the check out! (This starts 5th August so as not to clash with the introductory offer on Canicule!)

The Batwing

I am a child of the 80s and what goes in must come out.. And so here we are three decades later and what do I design? An almost-off-the-shoulder-batwing sleeve sweater.

This is a lightweight and airy garment made for lots of drape and movement. It is knit at a very loose gauge making it perfect for transitional seasons and meaning it knits up faster than other sock-weight sweaters. It’s worked bottom-up in the round with NO SEAMS! It also uses approx. 3/4 skeins of 100g sock weight wool making it more affordable for that lovely hand-dyed stuff.

I really really wanted this to be as inclusive as possible and so it actually goes up to a 90inch finished measurement - and as this is designed to be worn with approx. 30inches positive ease - well - you can do the maths.

Check out The Batwing on Ravelry

Canicule

And suddenly I’d cast on another top and out of nowhere had a summery sleeveless tee. I was going to just keep it to myself but the lovely ladies at the Stratford Knit Tea Retreat said they wanted it written up. And that’s not a crowd you disappoint. So tadaaaaa… Another garment pattern! I’m a firm believer that wool is for the whole year and not just for Christmas and the breathable and temperature controlling powers of Merino mean there is no reason not to wear hand-knits in the summer. There should be some concessions to the warmer weather though, so here you have a scooped neckline, capped sleeves, a split hem and a very loose gauge with fingering-weight yarn.

And there you have it.. The Canicule Tee. Why Canicule? Because in French it means ‘heatwave’ and my admirable band of test knitters worked on their tops in the hottest week of the year.

You can see their work and the Canicule Tee pattern on Ravelry

Bird Street UK

Now by some remarkable coincidence both the yarns used in the above patterns are Mr. Bs Yarns from Birdstreet UK. I have long been an admirer of their work and had my beady eye on them for a while now. So long in fact that the yarn I bought for the Batwing has now been discontinued. Shame on me. BUT the good news is that the yarn I used for The Canicule Tee is a repeatable colourway and is part of their collection inspired by children’s picture books. This one is ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

Sadly all the others I referenced in the video are discontinued. But I think you do get a sense of their palette and how they work. Beautiful, sophisticated tonals with a touch of speckle here and there. You can see how they lend themselves so well to garments.

Bird Street Uk Etsy Shop

Bird Street Uk Youtube Channel

@BirdStreetUK and @MrB_yarn on Instagram

The Knit Tea Retreat

Back in June I just had the most fabulous time at The Knit Tea Retreat run by the wonderful and industrious Jennie and Zoe. We ate cake, we chilled out, we knitted, we knitted on a boat… Dreamy. Just Dreamy.

Now in between full time jobs, organising retreats and heading to yarn shows these two ladies have only gone and produced their own yarn brand!

Cartref Yarn is 66% Welsh Mule and 33% Blue Faced Leicester and they’ve dyed them up using Jennie’s dye magic into a range of fabulous semi solid and solid colourways and I snaffled up a sweater quantity to make The Simple Sinister Sweater by Marna Gilligan

Now they only produced a small batch initially and they dont currently have any in their Etsy shop but i suggest you follow these ladies very closely on Instagram to keep informed of their movements. They’ve always got something up their sleeves!

The Knit Tea Retreat- and on Instagram @theknittearetreat

Cartref Yarns and on Intstagram @cartrefyarn