Experimenting with techniques, yarn and colour has been part of my life for over 45 years. I used to knit stranded colour Work in the 80’s but I didn’t even know that’s what I was doing and that a place called Fair Isle even existed. I used to wear my crazy coloured mismatched jumpers with Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren cotton culottes ,white muslin wrinkled Westwood stockings and ballet shoes even then I didn’t know that I had a passion for experimenting with knitting or colour.
This passion developed into knitting the most intricate jumpers that Patricia Roberts designed in the early 80s on the finest 2:5 mm needles with fine Shetland yarn bought from her shop in Covent Garden London
Today, I am patient with my projects and keep adding to my knowledge as I go into my mid 60s. I am always curious – thinking what if I did this or that or the other. I hardly see that kind of thinking these days but it was how we all knitted in the 80’s.
My latest design is called Kaleidoscope- It is a jumper pattern named after my blue Glass bead kaleidoscope and because the seemingly tessellating Shetland motifs repeat in the design. I have repeatedly returned to this Shetland Tree in Star Motif – starting from my very first knitted yoke cardigan knitted in 2015 which I progressed on to my Shetland Sea Urchin hat and mitts – then working to deliver a Colour Blending workshop for Rowan, I used the same motif and their yarns.
Once again I became inspired by the colour of our natural world last year with a long avenue of beautiful cherry blossom trees which inspired the colours of my latest Tree and Star hat and my first kaleidoscope jumper.
I put this pattern out into the world as a gift because I had made it for myself and many people wanted it. The motif is a 42 stitch pattern repeat and the V-neck falls in the centre of a tree – if I increased the size of the jumper I had to consider the following. It is knitted in the round so to increase the size, you would have to increase stitches by adding one more motive making it a very big jumper and a different management of other parts of it. Such as, if I added one more motif – then the V-neck position would fall in a different place and the shoulders and armpits would also increase in size. This would mean a TOTALLY different pattern, more test knits and not many people buy the patterns for me to spend one year of my life knitting 2 different jumpers.
I decided, instead, to experiment to increase the size by using 3.5 mm needles to make a larger jumper. I was doing this to help people see what would happen, it was not a solution to increase size but an experiment -Something I often did in the 80’s and 90’s with other patterns, changing yarns and needle size. I wondered it I increased the needle size or even the what would the outcome be.
The outcome of using the same yarn but needle size change, is a much larger jumper. I have steeked the neck and the armpits, if I’m completely honest I don’t like the bulky selvedge but I also wanted to experiment technique. I have steeked before but this time, I just cut without securing the steek stitches until afterwards.
There is a little video here, on Instagram of me cutting the steek stitches. Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/p/DYH9D3ktZo0/
I have found that many knitters need a pattern to be exact for them and to include all of the yarn colours, the weight of yarn, the amount of balls, the exact position of everything and that no one really wants to experiment at all anymore. I get it, yarn is expensive – but there is also a freedom in using what you have and experimenting which, interestingly, I have done all of my knitting life
So, my last knitted piece is a complete experiment in needle increase size, colour combinations, steeking stitches techniques, and just enjoying the sheer joy of making this project running free and dictating to me how I make my changes and adaptions.
Yesterday I cut the V Neck Steek stitches and it brought a new lease of life to me and my own practice. I stayed in the whole day finishing off the inside stitches and starting to knit the V-neck. I have developed an idea for making the sleeve edges larger so that they fit neatly into and increased size armpit.
This is where learning and design begins. How do I make this project work?
I’ve looked at it so long that I partially wanted it just finished. I also partially still don’t know what’s gonna happen with its outcome – but I planned out the V neck stitches and the sleeve increases and gussets on the back of a houmous packet – so I reckon, ALL IS WELL
If you would like to join me in my May online Colour Blending workshop, the link is here
And, of course here are all of the patterns mentioned above.
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tracey doxey 