Welcome back to my occasional series of blog posts where I share a few details about a new product or part of my business that I’m particularly excited about.
In Part 1, I featured one of my project bags and in Part 2 I showed you my shawl pins. Part 3 focused on stitch markers.
This week, the Sunday Showcase continues with … my knitting patterns. I’m particularly excited about this, because yesterday I released my first ‘paid for’ pattern on Ravelry!
Last July, Helen (my good friend, business buddy and the owner of Woolly Chic) and I were discussing, over a cup of coffee, how best to showcase her beautiful Alpaca and Welsh DK Wool. Cake was probably involved too. So we hatched a plan for me to design a ‘something’ that would show off this lovely British yarn. The plan was for her to launch it at a show, possibly Waltham Abbey Wool Show in January 2017.
I wanted to take full advantage of the crispness and great stitch definition of Helen’s yarn and so I thought about using a textured pattern inspired by the stitch patterns used on Gansey sweaters, incorporating just knit and purl stitches.
So I swatched:
And I thought about the construction. And I started to knit a prototype. Then life and my carpel tunnel operation got in the way…
I happy to report that eventually, that ‘something’ turned into this cushion cover, with the pattern being launched at Wonderwool Wales in April 2017.
May I present … the Gansey Style Cushion Cover:
The ‘Cappuccino’ version was knitted using Helen’s Alpaca and Welsh DK Wool (undyed). The ‘Raspberry’ version was knitted using her DK Pembrokeshire Wool. Further details about the pattern can be found on its Ravelry page.
A huge thank you to my test knitters, Helen and Fiona, for checking the pattern and providing valuable feedback!
As I type this blog post, Helen is at Wonderwool Wales. She has the samples and copies of the pattern on her stand. And I’ve heard that quite a few copies were sold yesterday. Thank you, Helen, and everybody who bought the pattern at Wonderwool Wales!
The pattern is available for download from Ravelry here. I hope you like it. I certainly enjoyed the design process, and I have ideas for my next Woolly Chic collaboration pattern(s) …
Stay tuned for more Sunday Showcase features …
p.s. I also have a couple of free patterns on Ravelry – please take a look!