Okay, okay. I know I said to expect a yarn review this week, and it hasn’t happened; and here I am talking about a new pattern. I’m sorry; but this is just too exciting.
This is Fox Grapes, published by Quince & Co. as part of their new 5-pattern colorwork collection, Waterline. It’s a squishy double layer of three-color stranded goodness, knitted in a tube and grafted together at the end. The yarn is fingering weight Quince and Co. Finch, and you don’t want to know how many amazing colorways it comes in.
This design has been percolating for months now—tomorrow will be a year to the day since I sent in my proposal—and it’s been a blast from beginning to end. Despite the fact that stranded knitting this hefty isn’t exactly a popular fashion choice where I live (thick knits aren’t a thing where it could be 75 degrees Fahrenheit on Christmas Day), this design is heavily influenced by my home in the South.
Fox grapes are better known as muscadines, of which there is a whole mini-vineyard in my front yard (my mom grows them, not me, which is why they actually produce fruit…), and I couldn’t think of a better name for the delicate colorwork motif.
The three-color scheme came about organically. Like most knitters, I love the opportunity to play with color; but I’ve never been bold or avant-garde enough to try multi-shade mystery shawls or color-blocked pullovers. I was envisioning something along the lines of my typical aesthetic—sleek, understated, and a bit old-fashioned, but easy to wear with a modern wardrobe. Quince’s style tends to travel along similar lines. This cowl offers a chance to mull and meditate over choices, choices, choices and still end up with something classy at the end of it all.
Another bonus with this piece is that while you get to choose three colors, you only have to knit with two at a time; so if you’ve been looking to practice your two-color stranded knitting, this would be a good place to start. The motif is repetitive enough to not cause misery, but has enough variation to keep your brain awake. And because it’s knit in the round you don’t have to worry about doing colorwork on a purl row.
And just because it was boring knitting (and maybe boring to look at, too) for all the grapes to grow the same way, I charted the two colors of grapes facing in different directions.
Originally I’d proposed the design in a more overtly autumnal color scheme, with a deep rusty orange as the background color and a chocolate brown as the dark color. As you can see, the only shade that carried over into the final design was the light color, Parchment, which looks pretty much like its namesake. At first I wasn’t sure how things would play out with the change, but in the end I’m incredibly pleased with how the new palette looks. (Check out the pattern page for the final colors and yarn amounts.)
Besides coming in a bazillion functional, sophisticated shades, Finch is the perfect colorwork yarn. It has stitch definition, smoothness, softness, spring, and balance. The twist is sturdy and the wool blooms a bit when washed, creating a cohesive fabric. I’m 100% excited about the idea of using it for colorwork again.
Now, where can you buy this pattern? It’s currently available as an individual pattern download and as part of the Waterline ebook from both Ravelry and Quince’s website:
Be sure to check out the other patterns in the collection as well—Quince has prepared a gorgeous lookbook for Waterline, which you can view here. And of course, the yarn for Fox Grapes can be snagged here (take advantage of the handy-dandy Compare Colors tool to pick your colors for this project!).
Thanks for looking; and if you’re a subscriber, thank you for your patience with this detour. I’m excited to let Fox Grapes out into the world and hope you love it, too.
Fox Grapes was designed and knitted by me, Ruth Nguyen. Modeled photographs were taken by Abby Lank and modeled by Maya Tihtiyas. Used by permission from Quince & Co.
