It’s finally the day—my autumn capsule collection in collaboration with Malabrigo Yarns, Dancing Knits, is open for preorders!
During my teens, my parents hosted a English country dance at our house every fall—we didn’t have a ton of formal events in our circle, so it was a special chance to dress up and party. I still associate the onset of autumn with preparing for the dance: designing the invitations, planning and collecting decorations, rifling for formal wear in our favorite thrift store, trying out new punch recipes…and, of course, throwing open the doors and lighting up the house for a big night with people we love. I miss it like crazy. This collection is inspired by the feeling of those celebrations, and by some of my favorite English country dances.
Purchase Details (i.e. Important Stuff)
Dancing Knits will have 5 patterns total, with 2 of the patterns revealed and out for single purchase today. Each week in September, another pattern will be revealed/added to the ebook and the ebook price will increase. So bear that in mind if you’d like to get the full ebook, since it’s significantly discounted at this time.
Both the ebooks and the single patterns will be available on Ravelry and on Payhip. If you’re getting single patterns, use the code Knit&Dance for 15% off until midnight on September 30. (If you’re on my email newsletter, be sure to check your inbox for your special code).
Design Details (i.e. Geeky Stuff)
When Malabrigo first approached me about doing a collection for their Freelance Pattern Project program, I knew immediately that I wanted to do something based on English country dance. I chose lace and twisted stitches to reflect the juxtaposition of structure and fluidity in English country dance, and the pieces have a wearable but elevated flair to them—the kind of items that I would want to wear to a formal event. I always wanted to knit myself something to wear for my parents’ dances but never did, so this is a little retroactive design exercise.
The first design in Dancing Knits is Maltese Bransle, inspired by the Maltese Bransle dance. Funny enough, the Maltese Bransle really isn’t English (it’s kind of in the name) and predates most of the English country dance canon by a few hundred years. It’s a late medieval/renaissance circle dance with no partners and a basic sequence of clapping, snapping and twirling that repeats faster and faster. Maltese Bransle encapsulates some of my favorite things about English country dance, even though it’s technically not part of the genre proper. It looks fancier than it really is, it’s joyful and fast and energetic, and it’s deeply communal. This design reflects that (I hope) and will leave your hands free for some snapping and clapping when you wear it.
The second design is Waves of Tory, inspired by—you guessed it, a dance called Waves of Tory! Our circle always called it dip & dive after the dance’s signature maneuver, in which couples weave over and under each other. It’s a great introduction to English country dance and is hard to mess up, since the steps are simple and the weaving sequence doesn’t even have to be in time to the music (it would be a good idea though, to prevent traffic jams…) It’s easy to do even for very young children, even though going over taller people may pose a rather humorous problem! I wanted to capture movement and flexibility in this shawl, so it features a soft lace pattern that can be easily resized and worked in any weight of yarn. It’s been a while since I designed a resizeable shawl and I love how it came out.
I hope you all love this collection—and maybe try out some English country dancing for yourself! The whole process of bringing this to life has been a walk down memory lane for me, and I’m so excited about bringing two art forms I love together. I’ll be back next week with the next design in the collection…
