Pattern Releases—Bilbo’s Garden Doily and Cornice

That’s right, folks—I have not one, but two new patterns to share with you today!

The first pattern isn’t technically new; release day was actually back in June, but between the craziness of Quiet Bay MKAL prep, a system glitch on LoveCrafts that held the pattern up for almost a month, and a general avalanche of knitting/crochet that invaded my to-do list (expect pictures before too long…), I haven’t had a good opportunity to post about it. Meet the Bilbo’s Garden Doily!

This design has been a while in coming; I created it as a wedding gift for a very special friend who is about to celebrate her first anniversary before too long. I actually teased it here on the blog last fall, but the holidays came faster than I expected (don’t they always?) and I was in a poor state of mind to be supervising tech editing and test knitting. Besides, who releases doily patterns in February? Well, maybe somebody does. Don’t let me stop you if you were thinking about it…

So here it is! Yes, it’s named after that particular Bilbo—how many Bilbos are there in the world? My friend is of a literary mind and keeps a mighty fine blog herself (much better than this one, in fact; if you spend your spare time reading hers instead of mine, you may actually learn something, and she takes glorious pictures of things other than colored string). Years ago, in the very early days of our friendship, we used to send quotes back and forth on a weekly basis and a good many of them were from Tolkien. So when it was time for her to set out on an epic new adventure, The Lord of the Rings seemed like a good place to start. She’s also the grandest gardener you ever saw (seriously, go read her blog already), and about the best kind of chum a girl could have. When I made this for her, almost a year ago, she and were in vastly different places in our lives than we are now; but she and her wonderful husband are happily married, their first precious little person was just born, and I am thankful.

The construction of this doily is a little different than your typical eight-wedge circle—the central arrangement of acorns and leaves is actually worked in four wedges, but with the same number of increases as if there were eight wedges. The increases are distributed and hidden throughout the four wedges in some fun, unexpected ways. After the central arrangement is worked, the shaping morphs from four wedges to twelve. Then the whole thing is finished off with a knitted-on leaf lace border. It was a fast, fun knit, but slightly more challenging than my Zephyr Doily (also a wedding gift—for two friends who love sailing) which has simpler, more graphic lace and eight-wedge construction, even though the wedges are asymmetrical. I was pleased as punch when the shaping for Bilbo’s Garden worked out, since it was a little tricky to design. One of these days, I want to do a giant shawl version of this in some lofty, tweedy woolen-spun yarn…would anybody make it if I did?

This pattern is out on Ravelry, LoveCrafts, and Payhip.

The second pattern really is new; as in “just last week” new. This is Cornice, from Quince and Co.’s new fall collection, Atelier. Currently, all the patterns in Atelier are available as a full collection ebook only; single patterns will be available later this fall. It’s an incredible mega-collection of 11 patterns by 11 designers, including my good self—accessories, pullovers, and cardigans in textured stitches, cables, and brioche. It’s like a one-stop shop for all your fall garment needs.

Cornice is one of the simpler knits in the collection, but it’s meant to look like it’s complicated. I mean, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, really. It’s worked in a tube from a provisional cast-on and then grafted; the cable patterning is simple left and right twists that are staggered to create the soft snowdrift effect. I used Quince’s worsted weight merino/mohair blend yarn, Crane—it has a a dense, comforting weight to it, but it’s plush and dreamy and just a little bit fuzzy. You can substitute any worsted weight yarn you have around, but the softer the better.

The collection can be purchased via Ravelry and QuinceandCo.com. I’ll put out an alert when Cornice is available as an individual pattern, so you can wait for that if you so desire. But if you’re in the market for some cozy, classic fall knits, go ahead and grab the full collection.

I think that’s all I have to share with you today! I’ll have more yarn and works-in-progress to share with you next time…