Fair Isle Knitting – tracey doxey

When Colour Becomes Kindness

Yesterday, Sunday, between 5 and 6 pm, I hosted our Colour Swatch Group Zoom session.

A small group of us from across the world met, and together we spent an hour talking about colour in knitting. We explored the monthly newsletter, looked at four different ways of knitting the same colours into one motif, talked about where inspiration comes from, and how sometimes the best colour choices are the ones that come from your heart rather than your head, or a carrier bag in front of the tele.

Afterwards, as always, I opened the session up for questions and for people to share their work.

Then something happened that, in seven years of teaching, I have never experienced before.

One of the ladies in the group isn’t really a knitter. Instead of sharing knitting, she shared a photograph that had inspired her. It was a photograph of her mother holding an enormous bunch of pink and peach and pale read flowers.

This lady generously shared how she had only met her mother ten months ago. In the photograph, her mother was surrounded the flowers picked for her by her daughter —flowers she absolutely loved. Looking at the photograph made her smile. This lady’s mother has severe dementia and she mentioned that some days she knows she is her daughter. Some days she thinks she is a friend. Some days she believes she is an enemy.

Every week, my participant drives five hours to visit her mother and five hours home again. Alongside that, she has been moving house. Life has simply been overwhelming.

She had already ordered yarn in exactly the colours of those flowers because she wanted to knit my Sea Urchin Mitts for her mum. But between visiting her mother, moving home and everything else, she just hadn’t found the time.

As she shared her story, it was heartwarming and sad and heartbreaking. And incredibly beautiful.

Then something happened that silenced every single one of us.

Another participant simply said,

“Send me your list of colours. I’ll knit the mitts for you and post them to you.”

That was it.

No fuss.

No hesitation.

Just kindness.

I could feel tears welling up. The lady telling her story was emotional and several of us were in the group. It was one of those painfully beautiful moments that stays with you long after the Zoom call has ended.

What made it even more extraordinary was this.

The lady who offered to knit the mitts lives on the Isle of Wight and The lady she offered to them for lives in America.

Two women who had never met, connected simply through colour workshop, creativity, the opportunity to open up and kindness.

All I could think to do in that moment was send both of them the patterns for the mitts and the matching hat. It felt like the smallest contribution compared to what had just unfolded, but it was what I could offer. In all my 7 years of teaching colour work online across the world, I have never witnessed such altruistic instant kindness and I was very moved.

Tonight reminded me that Colour Swatch Group has become something I never imagined it would be. I thought I was bringing people together to explore colour. Instead, colour has brought people together to explore humanity and we are a community.

My Participants’ colour journals have become more than pages filled with palettes and inspiration. They have become places where stories are shared, where people feel safe enough to be vulnerable, and where complete strangers quietly remind one another what kindness looks like.

I don’t think any of us present in that zoom session will forget that moment of pure kindness. I know I never will.

If you would like to join me in my next Cohort of Colour Swatch Journal Group, we will be starting In January 2027 as my 2nd Cohort starts on Aug 1st is is now Full. Nip to the workshops page and send me a contact form, to say you are interested in information for any future session.

Link to the workshop contact page is here

Happy knitting -much love – Tracey

Celebrating 6 years

I’d like to celebrate something that seemed small when it happened but has been the absolute foundation of my creative practice today.

On Jan 21^st 2020 – 6 years ago, I published my first pattern on Ravelry. It was my Sea Urchin Shetland hat pattern. When I look back, I see that I have never really just produced patterns but knitting stories – like recipes – like myths – like stories that I uncovered.

The Sea Urchin Hat pattern text starts with the below (it was written in January 2020) :-

Dear lover of yarn and of the tactile act of knitting,

This hat design has been long in the making. I’m producing it as a design sheet because the pattern can be followed to the stitch and colour, or you can use it as a springboard to develop your own ideas by choosing your colours and even a different tree and star motif to the one I have chosen to incorporate into your hat pattern – you can make it your design too.

Over the years, I’ve made this hat using varying yarns and colours. I’ve blocked it in to a shape that resembled a slouching hat or a kind of beret. I still have two of these hats from 2015, and I’ve worn them in all weathers and in many countries. I’ve left one and lost it in places but I have always retraced my steps and gratefully been reunited with the hat that now is part of me every winter. Seeing the early photos of this hat, I see a different shape entirely to the one that has morphed and shaped to my head through being soaked in gale force rains, being stuffed in pockets and in bags and left for months in a drawer. In November 2019, I was living in Brindister, West Burrafirth, Shetland and wore this hat every day whilst walking around the voe. By now, its shape had morphed into a basin shape and I felt lost without it if I ever forgot it any winter day – especially in the piercing winds.

In November 2019, when, every day, I walked around the Voe at Brindister, I began to find discarded Sea Urchin shells left by seagulls. They were abandoned where the gull had left it after breaking it open to eat the urchin. I found them on banks and on flat, wet, mossy plateaus used as seagull breakfast tables. All had been smashed to get to breakfast but I was on the lookout for a complete one. The first found sea urchin shell was an exciting surprise, like finding a four-leafed clover when I was a kid. I turned it around and around looking at its pattern and the smashed opening. Then, I started looking out for these sea treasure on the land. I collected any shell that was whole, even if it was broken into until I couldn’t carry them in my hands – so I used my hat to carry the porcelain like sea urchin shells back to the croft house. When I looked, I saw that both my hat and urchin shell had a similar shape – the hat with a 5-pointed section crown and an urchin-like roundness and in return, the sea urchin shell looked hat-like

I would love for you, the knitter, designer, maker, lover of yarn and the tactile act of knitting, to make this hat in whichever colours and with whatever tree and star motif you would like. Any motif will make the same shape as the decrease around the tree creates the crown. Have fun, send photos of your finished hats to https://www.facebook.com/DoxeyKnits/ and I will post them on the FB and Instagram pages https://www.instagram.com/traceydoxey/

I would like to ask – How many knitting patterns do you know that start with a letter to the knitter ?

The pattern ends with the following words :-

I hope that you have enjoyed knitting this hat. If you want to experiment with larger needles and different yarns, as I have over the years, you’ll have a lot of fun with the results. I look forward to seeing your hats.

Big knitting love, Tracey.

How many knitting patterns do you know that end like a letter.

I want to thank this little design that I made whilst staying in Fair Isle then in Brindister, Shetland, running up to the end of 2019. The design challenged me at the end of my MA in Knitting from NTU during which time, I went back and forth to Shetland until I finally bought a croft house there in 2020 and I am ok that I made the decision to return to England in 2021– I wrote a book about my life in Shetland but it never was published.

I want to acknowledge and thank my creative spirit for developing this simple Shetland Yoke motif and simple hat into workshops, colour blending, and finally – a new jumper pattern. I have learned so much along the way, in 6 years.

What a journey.

Thank you to every one of you who has supported me by buying a knitting pattern or attended a workshop. I do not know what is to come 😊

much love. Tracey 🙂

Ravelry patterns are here – you will see the visual journey

Sea Urchin hat and mitts pattern 2020

Sea Urchin Shetland hat pattern is here

to subscribe for more blog posts, sign up here – yayyyy

How I choose my colours for my knitting patterns

I use two types of motifs when I design my knitting patterns – Fair Isle patterns which are traditionally OXO patterns – if anyone tells you any different or says that they are knitting Fair Isle, mostly they are knitting stranded colour work, which is also wonderful but not culturally Fair Isle.

And my other knitting designs which mostly have Shetland motifs – which I colour blend.

My Fair Isle designs have been particularly colourful. I designed the pattern as I knitted it and whilst I ran with the colours that I most love. Fair Isle motifs do not need lots of colour and always only 2 colours in each row. But, there is a particular way that I combine my colours. For example, for the Vest that I made for my sister, which is less colourful than I would normally choose because I asked her what colours she liked and she said, black, grey, navy and maybe dark red and mustard as well. I started knitting the vest with the colours she liked best, black, dark grey and light greys for the bigger OXO motifs then used the navy or red or mustard for the smaller bands of motifs in between. But, then, I got bored so stared to add the reds and navy and mustard into the larger OXO bands – kinda forgetting any sort of order. My favourite section of the vest is the part from the dividing vest at the armpits for front and back. I used her colour choices but where I wanted, and if you look carefully, you can see that I contrasted the colours in each OXO band between motif and background.

we live in time exhibition piece — sisters

Here are some examples of my Fair Isle charts/ patterns – The Long Fair Isle Hat/Scarf and the Fair Isle chart. If you would like to learn how to build your own Fair Isle vest or jumper from my Fair Isle chart, then I am running a workshop on how to do this on 15^th March.

Here are the links to the Fair Isle long/hat scarf pattern which gives you a full list of all the colours that I used as well as lots of clear easy to follow Fair Isle charts.

Here is the link to the Fair Isle Chart which gives you all of the colours for the jumper in the bottom image and also gives you full charts so that you can make your own jumper or vest. It is not a pattern.

The patterns that I make using Shetland motifs, for example the Kaleidoscope jumper, I blend the colours for the back ground and the motif, I love colour blending. I use between 3-5 colours in the background and 3 or 4 colours in the motif, which gives the knitted article more of a rich colourful knit. I go for a glow.

here is a link to my latest design – but actually, the Dear Susan, Easy Aran jumper pattern which is a very quick and easy knit, also has colour blending on the yoke, cuffs and above the rib.

All of my patterns give clear instructions which row to change your colours but if you would like to do a Colour Blending Class, I have one running on 14^th March.

new online classes are here

My favourite way to use colours in my patterns is to blend them. 🙂 let me know in a comment how you like to use your colours. and if you would like to subscribe to my posts – just fill in the subscribe box below and you’ll receive any new posts.

Fair Isle Vest and colour blended sleeves for my 2nd Kaleidoscope jumper

I cannot wait to pick up my knitting again 🙂

Experimenting with colours that you love.

Tell me …. What is it that puts you off using or experimenting with new colours in your stranded colour work project?

I’m currently in Fujiyoshida – a town at the base of Mount Fuji, for 28 days. I’ve been knitting my Tree and Star sleeves with an idea to add them to a fabric body. I bought a couple of Kimono from the flea market at Hanazono Shrine in Tokyo but the fabric doesn’t work for a body with these sleeves. So, I may knit another Kaleidoscope jumper body using 3mm needles so that all the people who wanted a larger size can see how a needle increase from 2:75mm to 3mm will make to the overall size. Would that be of interest to anyone who was hoping for the next size up?

I am using my stash yarn as evidence of a journey in colour. A journey that anyone could do with their own stash. I kept knitting this motif in different colours because I couldn’t settle on just one. Each version felt like a different mood—quiet, bold, playful, grounded. The first colours of brightest pinks with my initials and the year 2026, when the project will be finished, felt like really owning the sleeve as – not just knitting but creative freedom.

That’s when I realized the pattern isn’t about my colour choices at all. It’s about giving you a place to try yours. I would like to invite you to have a look at these sleeves and think of the colours and if you were going to knit the same jumper – which ones might you give a try.

When I lived in Shetland, my knitting patterns and their colour choices were devised around the wild Shetland landscape, the croft house that I lived in and the woman who had lived in the house for 83 years until 1960. But now, the Kaleidoscope jumper has been more playful, named after my own kaleidoscope at home, which has a great big blue marble at the end.

Kaleidoscope

Would you like to try this jumper pattern for your everyday self—or your future self? I am wearing this jumper daily in Japan – it matches the sky and I am having a lot of fun wearing it with the matching hat and a tweed jacket. On Sunday, we all (from the residency) did a drop-in session for anyone who would like to knit or weave or trying punch needling. So many people came to see us including some Tokyo Fashion guys who wore all black, all brown or all Navy and I suggested that they needed a little colour – like a Fair Isle vest just showing through their dark colours -for every day. They were very interested in the colour idea.

The motif repeats consistently and the colours can be swapped without recalculating the whole pattern. I designed this so colour changes feel playful, not precious.

The pattern doesn’t ask you to commit to one look—it gives you a place to experiment. To trust your instincts. To surprise yourself.

If you want a project where colour gets to be personal, this one might be for you.

Swatch your colour ideas first – always swatch for colour to see what works and what doesn’t – for you. Keep the motif and the background colours with enough contrast so that the pattern is not muddied. And just experiment – this is the perfect motif.

Experimenting with colours that you love.

Here is the Kaleidoscope Jumper Let me know in the comments if you have bought the pattern and are still considering the colours you might choose.

Here are the Tree and Star sleeves which are alternative sleeves to the Tree only sleeves in the original pattern.

Let me know what you think about your colour choices.

When I am lost, I go to the stones

Kaleidoscope Jumper

When I am lost, I come out here – to the base of Stanage Edge where the millstones lie. I eat breakfast and feel the gentle breath of a breeze. I can see for miles out towards Hope Valley, the stones are ancient – have been pushed and fallen, the rocks well climbed by amateurs and professionals alike and the paths well walked.
I have so many creative ideas that they are bursting and I’ve stopped to a point of disconnection because I measure myself by reward – but this place, this earthly place brings me back to me, to a core that I hadforget. The stones make me care again, connect and contribute to my creative process. I cannot compete with the millions of knitting patterns pushed out into the world that are for sale, nor do I want to but I know that this Kaleidoscope pattern is a very good one.

When I meet the millstones and the old stone trough, I knit, I eat, drink tea and I am grateful for my thoughts. I have had 3 ideas to put togethere with my Tree and star new sleeve and you will have to wait until I have finally made my choice.

I am heading to an artist residency at the base of Mount Fuji for the whole of December and I am working on a piece called between Silk and Paper, drawing on the Japanese concepts of Ma and Mono No Aware – You can read about it here

I’ve been working on the materiality of the pieces

But for now, I am very much enjoying my new knitted jumper – you could too, use your stash, make it yours, go out into the countryside and knit

Kaleidoscope Jumper

Bolt-on, Tree and Star sleeve pattern.

Above is an image of the alternate sleeve to the one that is included in the Kaleidoscope Jumper pattern. It is a Bolt on pattern called – Tree and Star Sleeve. Below are reasons why I published the pattern with Tree sleeves charts only and why I am producing a 2nd bolt on sleeve pattern.

Below are A Few Notes from the last page of my Kaleidoscope jumper pattern to explain some of my decisions.

Why is the Kaleidoscope Jumper pattern one size only?

It iis one size because the motifs of 44 stitches, dictate wherre the pattern lies – to increase the size, I would have to add one more motif, change where the neck lies in the pattern and calculate additional decreases at the shoulders and it would go on and on. I t would take e 6 months to make different sizes. I am just one person without tech support. It is actually easy to increase the size by knitting the jumper in UK 3:5mm needles rather than UK 3mm

Why did I knit the sleeve in the round from cuff up then graft it into the armpit?
Here’s the reason that I did the sleeves this way. Initially, I picked up the stitches around the arm hole to knit the sleeve in the round from the shoulder down to the cuff but I realised that if I knitted the tree motif, from the trunk first, as usual, the trees would be upside down, ending with the tree top at the cuff. So, I turned the motif around and swatched the tree from its top down the trunk base so that I could knit the Tree only sleeve from the armhole. But, knitting this way resulted in the stitches of the tree motif being visibly upside down starting from the shoulder, and I didn’t like that either. You can see the swatch on the right and how the stitches are visibly the wrong way. It is possible to do it this way but it will always look somehow upside down. But, if you want, you can knit the Tree sleeves from the armpit down to the cuff, with upside down motif stitches, it is your choice.

_{note upside down stitches}

So, I knitted the sleeve in the round from the cuff up then joined it at the arm hole by grafting it expertly into the armpit hole. I needed to explain why I knitted the sleeve this way as it might seem a little weird but the result is perfect trees knitted from the cuff up and all the stitches are perfectly the right way. I thought that doing the sleeve this way is worth this extra consideration in the name of neatness and accuracy

Why does this jumper pattern only have Tree sleeve charts?

I did a poll on Instagram and my website to ask what people which sleeve they would like for the jumper pattern. Hundreds of people answered. The options were: – 1: – just Tree sleeves or 2: – just Tree and Star sleeves which are the same as the body, or 3: – Both sleeve charts. Most people said that they would knit 1: – Tree sleeves only, but some wanted both charts, just in case. When asked if those people would consider paying more for the option of both sleeves to be included in the one pattern, even though there was more work charting a 2nd sleeve, knitting it, and writing a full pattern, they mostly said no. So, I have happily knitted Tree sleeves in my Kaleidoscope jumper because most people requested this and the Trees look a wonderful companion pattern and compliment the body.

What about the Tree and Star sleeve? Where can I get it?

My test knitter has knitted the Tree and Star sleeves, which are the same motif as the body. The Tree and Star sleeve chart pattern along with the Sanquhar alphabet pattern to enable you to add your initials and year of knitting to personalise your work, will be released separately to the jumper pattern, as an add-on so that the knitter can make their own choice of sleeve. The name of the bolt-on pattern will be, Tree and Star Sleeve Pattern. The reason that this is a separate bolt-on pattern, is because of the extra work to design, create and knit it as well as write the intricate charts and pattern notes. Plus it gives the knitter the choice to just pay for the original pattern or pay extra if they want and extra design.

So, if you would like to buy the Kaleidoscope pattern, it is here

I am also knitting a swatch of how to add your initials and the year when the jumper was made, into the sleeve, just above the cuff, in the Bolt on Tree and Star Sleeve pattern that will be out this week.

Thank you to everyone who has bought the Kaleidoscope Jumper Pattern it is here, if you want to go check it out.

Let me know what you think about the options for a 2nd sleeve pattern.

Kaleidoscope pattern update

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Instagram post on July 30^th when I asked what sleeve you would most like me to finish my jumper in, as I had already knitted the 1^st one in Trees only, not tree and star, like the body.

There were many comments to say what sleeves you’d like to see as the second one, on my latest Kaleidoscope, jumper design. To be precise, I had 166 comments and 544 likes on that post. I also added a poll on my Instagram stories to ask the same question, and below are the results for that.

So, for the first time, I actually did a real research survey to find out what you wanted. The results were really interesting.

The overall winning suggestion was that most of you just wanted Tree sleeves only in the pattern, just as I had already knitted with the first one, but a lot of you thought that I should add the alternative ‘Tree and Star sleeve chart’, to give the knitter options but some of you said that you wouldn’t pay extra for an additional sleeve pattern design even if it took me days to chart , test knit, write the pattern and instructions. This I found quite disheartening as the Kaleidoscope pattern is my most adventurous and my most perfect and I wanted to release it with 2 sleeve options but if people don’t want to recognise the work in that extra design, I have made a compromise.

I will release the Kaleidoscope jumper pattern within 2 weeks week AND I will follow up with a ‘Bolt-on’ pattern which is a chart of the alternative ‘Tree and Star sleeve, plus a Sanquhar alphabet chart for you to be able to personalise your knit with your initials and date above your cuff. This way, I will produce a beautiful pattern with the sleeves requested by the majority in my surveys. And, I will have an additional bolt on pattern with the 2^nd sleeve. The bolt on pattern has more work than a hat pattern and deserves to be recognised as a design in itself.

It’s 3 months since I started the project on 10th May. Not bad for a fast slow knit.

Please comment on what colours you’d like to see this jumper knitted on
I’m excited to bring this pattern out.

Below are a few comments from Instagram. You can follow me here on instagram for more updates and lots of photos

But, I think that the best way to find out about the pattern release, is to become a ‘friend’ of mine on ravelry, then I think you get an update when the pattern is published

Oh, I knitted the second sleeve in Trees only, and I am almost ready to graft the 2^nd sleeve into place, here is a video of the graft after I took the risk of grafting the sleeve into the armpit with double yarn for strength. I am most happy. The jumper has grafted shoulders, the sleeves expertly grafted into the armpit, a mitred V neck and the option of 2 different sleeve patterns plus a Sanquhar alphabet to knit your initials and the year into the design. I hope that you will knit it and make it personal to you.

My test knitter is knitting Tree and Star sleeves to match the body AND, I will also knit a Tree and Star sleeve with my initials and the year knitted into the work too. My test knit will be yellows and greens.

Let me know what you think in comments. Join me on Instagram to get more frequent updates and join as a friend in Ravelry to hear when the pattern comes out first.

Also, if you do want to, there is still the Tree and Star hat pattern to knit before the jumper, to get used to the motif, or after, to have as a twin set. I can’t wait to wear mine.

Just a few comments from my Instagram post asking which sleeve you would like to finish the design.

First of all: what a fantastic pattern! I love it!
😍😍😍 For me, I’d choose option 1, trees only. But I think I’d include both options in the pattern ❤️

Hi Tracey, I would probably knit the trees/stars option but would like to have the tree option open until I get to the sleeves in my project. And I would pay the double if that idea what it takes.

When will the jumper pattern be available? I will be in Shetland on 11-18 Aug and would love to know the amount of yarn and color codes to be able to buy yarn with me home to Denmark.

Hi Tracey! It’s a beautiful design 💙 I’m not in the position to be taking on a large project at the moment, but I’d choose Option 1. I do love symmetry. I’m not sure how many would be open to paying more for a potential 2nd sleeve option. But, if you design another sweater in the future in the same gauge, perhaps with a round/crew neck, or a cardigan

Choices! I’d probably like both sleeve designs because I’d be tempted to do one sleeve of each pattern 🧐 I like the deliberate similar but not matching!

I love the tree sleeve! As much as I’d enjoy the options I know in my heart I would still pick two tree sleeves. I’d also pay more to have the options. Could you release a second sleeve option as an add on pattern later to cover your work?

Could you sell a tree sleeve version and a tree and star only version as separate patterns, or charge a bit extra for a sleeve add-on? A tree only (including body) pattern would be great too

Trees for me as first choice ❤️❤️❤️

Trees on the second sleeve as well !

Both please Tracey

Trees only add a lovely interest.

I would love your new pattern to offer both options. Personally I think i would like the combo best but it’s a rare treat to have a choice. Keep up the good work my flower!

winner chosen. I hope that you’re all up for buying this exciting pattern

Hi! Such a gorgeous jumper! I probably would go for trees on both sleeves. The colours are amazing!! 😍😍😍

Kaleidoscope pattern details

I am almost finished knitting my new design. It has a lot of gorgeous features. – Grafted shoulders, a beautiful mitred V neck band and I have just grafted the first sleeve into the body of the armhole.

I normally knit my sleeves by picking up stitches around the arm hole then knitting down to the cuff, but the reason that I grafted the tree knitted sleeve into the arm hole, is because I knitted it in the round from the cuff up and then worked the finished sleeve into the armpit. The reason for this is because I did a swatch of the tree motifs and to get them standing the right way, (trunk at the cuff end of the knit) if I was knitting armpit down to cuff, I had to start knitting the tree from its top. This is quite an easy thing to do. But, I realised from the swatch that if I knitted the trees from the top to the trunk, starting at the arm hole down, the stitches would be upside down and that really annoyed me. Here is a swatch of what the stitches would look like if I had knitted them from the armpit. Can you see that the stitches are sitting upside down in the tree motif? And to the eye, it would look a mistake when the whole sleeve was knitted and it would really annoy me.

So, I have knitted the sleeve, in the round from the cuff up to the top and it was an absolute pleasure. Detailed images will be in the pattern of the joining seam and how it looked when finished and I will release videos on how I grafted the sleeve into the arm pit.

The question is now that I am undecided whether to do a 2nd tree sleeve, which would look harmonious and cute, or shall I knit a sleeve with the tree and star motifs from the body? Or would you prefer both options in the knitting pattern so that you can choose to knit either one design or both?

So, I am having a little ‘win the pattern post on Istagram’ Anyone who comments on my post which one they prefer will get a chance of winning the pattern when it is released.

My instagram is @traceydoxey and you can let me know your preference on the post for a chance to win.

If you would like to knit this pattern but feel a little daunted, you can start very simply with the Tree and Star hat pattern which is in the link here

I am really excited about this pattern, so much care and attention has gone into it. There will be pages of charts to help you get your motifs, V neck and armpit decreases in the right places and options – for you to choose yourself to make the design more your own.

Let me know your thoughts on the pattern and if you are hoping to knit it. here is the instagram page to join in giving your idea of what the 2nd sleeve will be

Peaceful ness

For some time now, when I wake around sunrise, I look at my wall.

This is my wall this morning, as the sun was rising higher, around 6am. I have an old hand sewn cut work lace panel in the window. It doesn’t fit properly, it is pinned into place and it looks a little scruffy, but on the whole, the overall effect is that it casts a shadow across my wall every early morning. Without thinking, I turn to look at the wall, or my cat and I feel at peace. Something I realise, I did not feel many mornings when I lived in my beautiful croft house in Shetland.

the thing is, I no longer live in my dream house but I feel calm and peaceful and can live with autonomy in this city. I can also leap, when the time is right.

Here are some of my first sights in the mornings

And, if I look the other way, this is often my first sight. The one of Alfie was taken at 6am the morning before the day he died, and there he was just purring and looking at me.

Tiggy hears me wake and throws his upside down head at me wanting to be loved. And this is peace, and love.

I saw a Japanese word this morning :- UKIYU – it means, Floating World – describing the fleeting beauty of life and the art of living in the moment.

I find that just looking at the shadow of the cut work fabric, falling across my wall is such fleeting beauty that I have looked at it over many viewings totalling many hours. It is peace.

Thank you for your continued support. Happy summer, Tracey 🙂

I Cannot Reach You

I have finally finished my knitted piece.

It is called, ‘I Cannot Reach you.’

It is a piece about the space between me and my sister, born 11 months apart.

It has been one year in the making.

It is love.

Our mother dressed my sister and I in identical clothes for about 12 years until we found the voices to be different. We were born in 1963 and 1964. You did what you were told. And, we were told. Clothes say so much about the wearer, about the social history, about what people what to portray, about many things.

My nana knitted us identical cardigans – probably for the same amount of years. But my sister and I were very different people. And we are very different people today. I am not sure if differences in kids was either an accepted or a noticed thing in the 60’s. It certainly wasn’t in our house.

I will knit another piece, in the colours that my sister likes – Black, Grey, Navy, Dark Red and Mustard and place it alongside this piece, made up of over 90 colours and I will hang it beside this piece. I am interested in the Japanese concept of Ma 間 the spaces and the silences in between all things. when the 2 pieces are placed alongside each other, they will show the spaces between us.

For now, this peice will be entered into the Harley Foundation open, because I am regional, because it is art, because, it is love.

On a practical level, I will be starting a knitalong for the Fair Isle worksheet that accompanies this knitted pullover and will email everyone who has bought this pattern to ask if they/you would like to join a free 1 hours zoom session on the worksheet and how I made the pullover with a Q&A, so that they / you can join in the knitalong and use the worksheet to your advantage – to make what you want – hat, scarf, vest, pullover.

If you would like to join me, I will be starting in about a month.

Here is the link to the worksheet.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fair-isle-chart-2

And, thank you to everyone who has bought it, I hope you will join in on this community knit along with people joining from all around the world.