Tag: sewing

Knitting to keep us warm and to develop ideas.

This week, the weather has had a sharp turn from really quite warm to really quite cold, in fact bitterly cold.

On Monday I reached for my stash Buster neck warmer and here I am on my bike going to the gym at 6:30 in the morning for a 7 am Body Balance class. I love Body Balance class on a Monday morning –  it starts the week in the right way but getting there on these days in the pitch dark and freezing cold with sleet or lashing rain, on a tiny wheeled bike is a bit tough.

I designed the Stash Buster neck warmer in September 2023. You can see a link here for a blog on the making and designing of it. At the beginning of the process,  I decided to chart out lots of Fair Isle patterns in my design sketch book on graph paper using the OXO motifs in different colours which means that the neck warmer is constructed in an intarsia way where each block has its own set of colours.

I have had a lot of new followers on instagram, and since I have been wearing the neck warmer again, there has been a small revival and interest in this pattern.  so I want to say thank you for supporting me.

This week, on Tuesday evening, it was our crafting night at a local café in Nether Edge which has a huge wood burner inside. The cafe is a small room full of wonky tables, lots of chairs, a large fish tank and lots of plants and friendly people.  This cafe is very comfortable in more ways than one – it is open- hearted and totally inclusive.

It is the best café in Sheffield and maybe Yorkshire so if you’re in the area check it out it’s called Café9 and you will always receive a great welcome

Next Friday, I will be flying to Tokyo. This week I’ve been sorting the last small details and meeting people who are going to look after my cat and come and live in my flat over the time that I’m away. 

This afternoon I showed a new friend, that I met through Instagram, all the things in the flat and how they work for when she comes to stay. I wrote a cat and flat manual. This evening, I pondered how Instagram is quite a marvellous platform for joining people up.  I have met so many brilliant women through my Instagram feed – either they’ve got in touch with me or I’ve got in touch with them and over time, we have built up longstanding friendships.

I’ll be taking quite a few of my making ideas to Japan. I’ve decided to take my Tree and Star sleeves to Fuji,  because I have an idea that I’d quite like to add them to a jacket that I’ll make using flea market kimonos.  I’ll take the kimono to pieces and reuse and reshape the pieces in different ways to make a jacket body  – this is one of my ideas –  I have a lot of ideas and I don’t know if any of them will come to full fruition but I am so looking forward to having one month in Fujiyoshida to just be – think, write, observe, sit quietly and notice the details. 

 I am excited to be taking the sleeves, because I know that they can be knitted into to any number of things such as on to a previously knitted vest or as I hope to do, added to a fabric body or as add-ons to the kaleidoscope jumper.

When I begin to be free with my creativity, more and more ideas come.  Ideas to create things that I had not thought of before.

I was asked on Instagram today, if I could post works in progress so, above is an image of both of my Tree and Star sleeves using colours from my stash.

If you would like to knit the sleeves yourself, to add to other projects, or to add to your Kaliedoscop jumper the pattern is here

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tree-and-star-sleeve

I post work in progress on Instagram here – I love instagram for images.

Small Independent knitted stories.

I try to design beautiful knitted articles but they may not be considered interesting. All of my designs are meaningful to me but of course they will not be meaningful for others. All of my patterns also have a story embedded within them often from inspiration of place, people or colour But my stories are also not that meaningful to other others. 

And big yarn companies that make patterns like Rowan or Sirdar, don’t genuinely take inspiration from real places or people that they’ve met. They often start with a mood board which has no integrity within the finished article so how do independent designers like me make a living from our creative practice? 

Well, the answer is we don’t. I work at the university 2 1/2 days a week to pay my bills then I do my house jobs, care for the cat and manage the car and daily tasks and try to fit my creative practice into the time left for me, which can be hard when so many other other things take up my time

Independent designers do their own marketing, promotion and social media – responding to comments on Instagram and writing for the website to promote my creative practice. But then if I do sell a pattern for say, £4 Ravelry take 10% and then so do Paypal so I get about £3.20 for probably three months work to design Knit, test knit it, write the pattern – And that’s if I sell any at all.

I don’t have funding like a lot of creative practitioners, nor financial support so I want this post to say a big thank to you if you have ever bought a pattern or been on one of my workshops with me which showsme that the hard work that I’ve put in over the years has not been wasted and now, when I do finally get time to sit down and knit – my cat sits on top of me. 

Here is a spotlight on my favourite pattern that I have ever designed at the moment and it’s the kaleidoscope jumper with add-on sleeve pattern and matching hat. I love wearing this jumper and always receive so many beautiful little comments about it so from one independent designer to whoever it is reading this Thank you for supporting us

Here is the Kaleidoscope Jumper pattern

And here is the link to that alternaitive Tree and Star sleeve, if you prefer to have the sam motif for the sleeve as used in the body.

Thank you

Dear Susan

Surprisingly, yesterday, someone bought my east to knit, Aran , Dear Susan, Jumper pattern. I made this when I lived in Shetland and the entire piece is dedicated to the woman that lived in the house that I bought.

This is a beautiful, quick, easy knit yoke pullover, knitted in Aran weight yarn. It is entirely inspired from my living in Shetland with the landscape, the sea, the weather, the house I bought – and is a letter to Susan Halcrow, a woman that lived in the same house from 1876 to 1960. ‘Dear Susan’

The pattern (which is here) has a 12 page letter/story dedicated to her which is where the name of the pattern comes from

I originally knitted this pullover in spindrift yarn in the summer of 2021 but this jumper / easy pullover, has been knitted for Winter in Aran weight and is a fun, quick easy knit.

It is one size and fits many people. You can lengthen the body if you require.

It is knitted using 4mm (US6) circular needles and 2:75mm (US2) for the sleeve cuffs. It has been knitted by 4 test knitters – from a complete beginner to very experienced. Some of the test knitters went rogue with their yarn choices and the outcomes are lovely.

You can also make it a little larger by using 5mm needles – as one test knitter did.

Yarn:- Jamieson’s of Shetland Aran weight Heather yarn.

My test knitters used lots of different yarns and you will see this in the projects. You can try your Aran wight stash.

There are coloured charts, photos to explain how to do some of the stages and indepth fully written pattern. (23 pages in all to this pattern) 9 pages for the pattern –

Additional, to the pattern is a 12 page story/ letter dedicated to Susan Halcrow – Dear Susan,

here is an extract from the end of the letter after many months of research and living in the house …

(May 2021)
Dear Susan – friend – may I call you friend?

I imagine you looking out of the South Bedroom window as I now do. The early spring evening light is illuminating the edge of the land, holding back the blue, blue sea.
Would you have lit a fire in hearth in this bedroom beside you? I can see you putting the animals to bed – the cow in the barn (now derelict) the sheep in the field (now overgrown) or letting them out on the first clear break after 5 days of blizzards, arctic ice and gale force winds? Would you have smiled at the sudden calmness after such elemental ferocity as I now do?

Everything inside the house has possibly changed since you left in 1960 – except the floors, the doors and the view and maybe the sounds of the birds. The nature and intensity of this ever-changing view through the window is both of ours – both yours and mine.

Susan ….

This is not just a pattern but a true testament to a beautiful woman who lived a very long life in a beautiful house facing the sea with harsh weather, managing on her own and living a full life. It is a pattern of love and integrity.
’Dear Susan’ in Aran weight is a great winter pullover entirely inspired by life in Shetland.

Grateful thanks to my test knitters for the Aran jumper –
Judi Hurst, Janet Benjafield, Cheryl De Ville and Tracie Bailey.

Happy Knitting.
From Tracey.

Dear Susan jumper is on ravelry

Sewing leaves

The owl hoots to his mate every morning around this time at 6 am. Sometimes he calls from within the garden or from behind the house over the road but always, the owl has the same call.  Within seconds, the response comes. I like to think that the two callers are mates but I don’t know anything about owls except that their calling is something that I love to hear before any other nameable sound, when I wake.   

Yesterday, I started collecting leaves, without having a prior plan. It is just that when I come across fallen leaves of deep beauty, they were too hard to leave behind on the city street.  The varying red leaves covered the cobbles in the city centre, by the Peace Gardens.   I don’t know what species of leaves they are, but I collected a bag full with an aim to sew the leaves.   It’s a spontaneous idea, responding to the season of falling leaves, and this is why I find myself here, sitting in bed at 6:30am, in the darkness hiding where the owl is hooting and I’m beginning to sew leaves. 

For the purpose, I’m using the Japanese silk thread that I bought when I was in Kyoto, a tiny needle threader and a Japanese needle in the hope of maybe that using them may evoke some tactile connection between Japan and my red Sheffield leaves 

Beneath the dim light of the lamp beside the bed, I go through the leaves without priority and started to sew them together with running stitch.  They’re not wet. They’re not dry. They have a moisturised feeling to the facing top side of these beautiful different leaves.  I know that I could put them in some glycerine / water liquid to make them last and be more flexible but that would take me too long.  The leaves, are after all, right here, right now.

What’s interesting is that I started sewing the leaves in a running stitch with a single thread but then the thread has fallen out of the needle at least three times so I think it’s best to sew using double thread with a sturdy knot at the end like my Grandad showed me how to do. That’s one finding and the other is my eyes are not as good as they were when I was younger and so I now need the help of a small wire needle threader and then the other thing is that from the age of 14, I was sewing all the time, anything even dresses and later, I did a lot more sewing when my children were young – I even made hand smoked dresses for my daughter.  I was busy being a young mum but I still did a lot of sewing.  I haven’t done any kind of sewing for over a decade but recently,  about a month ago, I treated myself to a new sewing machine and I’m really excited to be able to start sewing again but the other thing is I realised that even if I haven’t sewn for years,  that tacit knowledge comes back through the hands and through the sewing thread and how I hold the needle.  My hands know how to move and hold.   It’s quite hard to explain but if you give me a needle and thread, and if I could thread it easily, then I’m away and running – fearless.  My hands go back to the knowledge that I have stored within the core of my developing years for over 50 years.

I’ve noticed  that the leaves I’m sewing are building up in the centre because I didn’t make a plan.   I recognise that I am placing them too tightly but when I move the growing sheet of leaves in my hands, it feels like fabric. They haven’t dried out to be crisp. They’re floppy.

I add more leaves to the little bundle and the owl is forgotten until tomorrow before dawn.    I’m finding that I’m looking at the juxtaposition of the colours of the leaves against each other and how I look at one colour behind the other so that they stand out – just like knitting.   The pack of leaves gets thicker in certain sections and my running stitches I think are too long.   And, I find that the red thread is lost against the red of the leaves so I think I will go and choose a contrasting colour but at the moment I’m just experimenting. 

I put a knot in the silk thread at the end and chose a scarlet colour and then I started a gentle running stitch through the leaves. The leaves are so fresh, only having fallen yesterday that they are easily manipulating in a pliable way just as if fabric.  I just set off sewing around the edge of the first tiny leaf and then kept adding leaves behind and enjoyed the feeling of sewing through leaves. The act of sewing quietened me. It made me slow down because of trying to place the leaves and I just kept adding there was no order to it as such and this is the first time I’ve done it so I just wanted to experiment. I’m thinking of doing sheets of these leaves just to see how they work but also that they may work really well as a coating to my paper pots.

Another of my findings is that sometimes although all the leaves look the same some, more than others, can tear when the stitch is pulled through the leaf.  After the red, I’m using an orange thread now which is more visible and shows more mistakes. I’m not sure which colour thread I prefer.

Sewing leaves is a very slow act and I’m really enjoying it without any aim or goal other than to see what happens.

Let me know what you think

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

Size inclusive

For the last couple of weeks, I have had some very hurtful, negative, comments about my latest knitting design, from women on social media and in groups – often with multiple exclamation marks about their oppinion about my Kaleidoscope pattern not being size inclusive.

My design was made for me, lovingly and creatively. It took 4 months to knit and design and write, alter, chart, photograph, teach the test knitter and promote the pattern. I put the pattern out honestly, with care and great attention to detail yet I have been constantly hammered about the pattern not being size inclusive because it’s one size up to 44 chest.

To make it every size in this pattern, would be a completely new pattern for each size and a test knit also. It is made up of 44 stitch repeat so to make it work, it would either go up or down in increments of 44 stitches which affects the alignment, where the V neck sits, the exgtra decreases on the armpits and shoulders and then the size of the sleeve would alter each time to fit. This is not just a quick adjustment, each size would be a completely new pattern and test knit. Size inclusive is not a law. It is a design choice if that cannot happen. It would take 18 months to write 4 patterns and do 4 test knits.

But my pattern is just one person’s creative vision – Mine. It is, however, inclusive for boys and my friend shows that in the photo taken this afternoon. It’s a beautiful knit and I’m stopped all the time when I wear it – A little like, ‘that’s a nice puppy’, kinda stopping to stroke and touch.

The negative comments and exclamation marks that I have received this past two weeks have not knocked my confidence in this piece but has made me want to stop sharing, stop teaching online colour work skills and stop designing – so, I put a notice to reflec this on a Stranded Knits facebook group and we broke facebook posts in 10 minutes with over 100 positive comments (just one little snidey comment)

The post that I put on the Facebook group this afternoon re balanced me. The women were supportive and really understood how social media forums are a space for anyone to say anything they like but would not say in a conversation face to face. They were all calm and helpful because I said that I would not answer any negative comments. It went wild. Over 60 positive comments and my responses in about 10 minutes until FB stopped after the 100th.

here are a few of the comments:-

1 Size inclusivity really matters. But as someone who advocates for consumer rights, I find it’s most productive to focus our advocacy on major brands and big-name designers. People may not understand that for indie designers, scaling up complex patterns like this is indeed similar to writing a new pattern in each size—meaning it’s just not feasible. I’m sorry that as an indie designer with just a couple jumper patterns available, you’ve been caught up in these dynamics—but I hope you also understand the advocates’ perspectives and feelings. It’s such a challenging systemic issue.

2 I find that designing sweaters and publishing good patterns is just not worth my time. The return (number of patterns sold) vs. the investment (knit first test, find and supervise test knitters, write pattern, revise pattern, photograph item) is just not workable. Socks are a better return for me as far as writing patterns. I knit sweaters for myself (size 3X) or my loved ones occasionally.

  • I agree. The wool for me and the test knitter was £200 to cover everything that’s without all the hundreds and hundreds of hours

3 It gets a bit exhausting when the dreamer gets questioned on why wasn’t it the dream for everyone? 🤣

I get for plain patterns why some get ouchy that it’s not in many sizes, but for cable work, stranded work: it’s a lot of math and a lot of testing and even then is NOT a guarantee that your construction “works” on a body, even if it matches the inches. Hang and drape and look are very subjective. And then you, the designer, is who gets yelled at because they did make it in size 84” and they spent “a lot of time and a lot of money on this amount of yarn” and then the sleeve didn’t set right “on them”.

People as a whole: if ANY knit pattern doesn’t suit YOU, just edit it. Tinker with it. Frog it and start again. And by the time you’ve redone your sweater five times to make it work “for you” realize the designer would’ve had to do “that” a million fold, if they wanted to make the pattern include every conceivable body. You’re basically expecting a masterclass in custom knitting fitting, for an $8 pattern. 

In all, there were too many comments and we were not allowed to add any more – they were automatically turned off.

Here is a beautiful Shetland comment from a lady who also designs –

Your hard work. Your pattern. Your design publication. Your artist license Folk can choose tae enjoy, support & purchase…or scroll on. Dinna pay da moaners (trolls) ony heed & dinna respond tae dem. I received a message fae some een telling me I didna hay tae write in Shetland dialect  – as du can see, I stopped, joost fir dem…nah 

🤣

 Dinna stop being YOU Tracey Doxey and keep lovin’ whit you create 

I felt stronger after the supportive comments and I will not stop being me but this post, I think, is about the hurt that women cause women on social media when they do not have an informed opinion – it is a dig.

here is the pattern. and yes, the additional sleeve is an extra pattern because it is a design in itself – and here also is the test knit image with the Tree and Star Sleeves.

Test Knit with Tree and star sleeves

Kaleidoscope Jumper pattern

Make of it what you will

It may be my last ever pattern 🙂

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 Jumper pattern

This is a frank and honest request.


If you buy my kaleidoscope pattern when I release it this weekend, please do not forward or share it with your friends or family or knitting group.


This pattern has taken 4 months of my life. I started at the beginning of May and have spent between 4-6 hours every day, either charting, designing, knitting, promoting, writing blogs, sorting yarn for test knitter, liaising a lot with test knitter, rewriting, printing, reading the pattern, updating charts,altering pattern and constant knitting and figuring out ways round things. When the pattern is released, ravelry charge about 10% and then PayPal always take 10% from the payment. So, my life has been poured into this pattern.


It and I have a value.
PLEASE do not share patterns.
Everyone is happy to buy lots and lots of wool, so please think of the actual design. End of Frank and honest discussion. Let me know what you think in the comments

I am releasing the pattern at the weekend, however, there may be a soft release earlier and I think if you are signed up to my Ravelry, as a ‘friend’ then you hear the moment the pattern comes out.

I would love to hear your comments, and follow me on instagram for lots of regular updates

After the release of the kaleidoscop jumper pattern, there will be the release of an add-on alternative sleeve pattern for the jumper. I am excited about that. Here is ravelry

here is information on why there will be an add-on pattern

Why does the Kaleidoscope 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 jumperbecause 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.
I have also test knitted the Tree and Star sleeve with my initials and the date above the cuff, as a swatch.
But, for now, I am most pleased to present you with, by popular demand, my Kaleidoscope jumper pattern which
has only a Trees sleeve pattern and instructions.

Kaleidoscope pattern update

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Instagram post on July 30th  when I asked what sleeve you would most like me to finish my jumper in, as I had already knitted the 1st 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 2nd 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 2nd 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