The weekly chronicles
Hello everyone, I'm trying something here. I've been procrastinating posting when I felt well enough due to a massive "fear of the blank page". A friend of mine (hello !) suggested me to post weekly things that caught my attention. It has the benefits of forcing me to post, without, I hope, being too overwhelming. So here goes !
Things I've seen that caught my eyes
UK Designer Gorgia Farrell
I'm always very interested in all things geometric. Even more than colour, the structure of things is something I'm particularly fond of. Georgia Farell's work really impressed me with the use of structure AND colour and that's pretty rare I must say. She just published a book with Rowan : "Abstract Volume 2".
She has 215 (!) designs on her Ravelry page, with a variety of garments, accessories and home accessories. I had the pleasure to see her talk about her new book during the zoom launch event with Rowan and her approach on knitting was very interesting. I know that it has been recorded and available to the people that signed up. I don't know if you still can access the video, though.
Here's her website if you're interested :
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Doanity
I've discovered this website after seeing the Woolfolk post about someone that published the pattern he test knitted. I won't detail the drama here, but I'm happy to have found Doanity.
I do not speak Korean. In fact, I even struggled making an account (thank you Google lens/translate!) but as I understand it, many Korean designers have their patterns on this platform. And there are a lot of beautiful and well finished garments ! I love the inspiration, even though I will not be able to buy a pattern there because well, I don't have any Korean payment available where I am. I'll try to grab some free patterns because I like to learn how different languages impact the writting of a pattern.
이도안
Patterns to be published
Beatrice Mase Sunset sweater in test knit
I am yet to knit a pattern from Beatrice Mase, but I have some in my library that just wait for me to find the appropriate yarn and time. The combination of this two factors isn't always easy to achieve.
This sweater features what seems to be a round yoke with various stripes and ribbing. She says in the test knit call on her Ravelry group that you can choose different colours for the stripes than for the rest of the body. As usual, Beatrice's colour palette is always very coherent and her style is recognizable. One of her testers, domi_victoine_ has shared the beginning of a version with a colour palette that I like very much (it has tweedy bits!).
She has a KAL running at the moment for her SHIMA patterns if you're also interested.
Camille Romano Hattara sweater in test knit
I like most of designs by Camille Romano, and I have been a tester for her two times. (Also, she's a nice person so it's always pleasant :))
This design is in collaboration with Biches & Buches, and features a colourblocked sweater with bobble all around. The detail that I particularly liked is the intarsia sleeves that replicate the colourblock motif with the bobbles. Instead of having two colours with an horizontal separation like a big stripe, the separation is vertical. I really like that kind of detail, the visual simplicity of it. It is a clever and effective design that offers lots of colour possibilities.
She shared yesterday that she was beginning a round yoke version with Le gros silk and mohair also from Biches & Bûches so I'm looking forward to see how it goes 👀.
News from The masked owl knitting laboratory
I'm in between work in progress projects tests knits at the moment :
My Hubane collar is in testing while I'm making my 4th iteration of it ! It's always a mix of fear and excitement to me when a pattern is test knitted. I hope that the testers will like it, like I hope that people will find it interesting enough so that they will want to make one.
I'm planning to dive into sweater patterns, and I'm slowly making progress with Biches & Bûches yarns (Yes I do love these yarns, even if my wallet does not). It'll have little cables and pretty details. This one will be ready, when it will be ready ! I will share more of it in the future.
I also am knitting two tests knit for other designers at the moment. One is nearly finished and I absolutely loved knitting it : Rillen Sweater by Rui Yamamuro. The second is the Beaten Track Beanie by Sara Ottosson for Making stories magazine, and this one I have not began yet, because my focus is on the sweater. I cannot add a new cast on right now even if I'd like to !
Lastly, I opened a Bluesky account. I never loved Instagram and these days I love it even less. If I can share things on another platform I'll be happy to. For now, I'll post on both, and we'll see what happens in the future. Sadly I do not think that Bluesky is ideal to share pictures, but I hope that something more picture oriented will be available sometimes. I am also trying Foto and Pixelfed, because I like to try new things apparently.
Okay, that's all for today. I wish you a good week and I hope my little rambling was somewhat interesting. Until next week 🦉
Géraldine / The masked owl