It’s time to start holiday gift knitting (already?!?) and I have not one, but two new patterns for your consideration. Without further ado…
The first design is Fireside Lace, a hat and scarf set in DK weight. This set is part of SweetGeorgia Yarns’ annual holiday capsule collection, Holidays with SweetGeorgia Vol. 7, a collection of quick and soothing projects to make during this busy season. The collection includes two knitting patterns, a crochet pattern, and a weaving pattern.
My contribution, Fireside Lace, is knit in their Superwash DK. The hat is designed in 3 sizes (hat shown is in the middle size) and the scarf is adjustable. I envisioned a really cozy, oversized but slinky scarf for the photos, though, so I made it extra wide. Funny story—I actually knitted these samples in June and was sweating the whole time…the weather’s much friendlier to winter knits now! I love how the lace pattern could either be leaves or little flames, depending on how you look at them.
Fireside Lace is available on Ravelry and SweetGeorgiaYarns.com. From now until October 15, you can get 25% off with the code HOLIDAY21.
The second design is an indie design that’s been waiting in the wings for nearly a year—I’m so excited to bring you the Britomart Tam! This piece is a collab with Aurore of Maison Corlene, an incredible dyer from France who specializes in rare-breed wools. We planned to release this last fall, but both of us were hit with major life upheaval and our professional endeavors went topsy-turvy. As they say, take two…
This design incorporates a whole bunch of my favorite things: lace (of course), twisted rib, and an elegant floral motif. There are also bobbles for some fun texture. I love medallion-style designs. hence my fondness for doilies; in fact, I’ve contemplated using the crown pattern on this tam as the starting point for a new doily design. We shall see…
Britomart is one of the heroines of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, which is often considered the first epic poem written in English (i.e. English as we know it; epics were written in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English long before Spenser). The Faerie Queene is a dense allegory (make that extremely dense) in which every character represents a virtue or a vice; it’s basically what would have happened if Pilgrim’s Progress was co-written by C. S. Lewis and Dante instead of Bunyan. Britomart represents Chastity/Fidelity. She’s also a tough, active, observant woman with some zingy lines and a magic spear (seriously, I want one…); it’s been a number of years since I read Spenser, but I’ve wanted to design something named after her for a long time. At one point in the poem, she’s described as a rose surrounded by thorns—beautiful, but don’t fool around with her. While this tam isn’t a literal take on that imagery, it’s certainly influenced by it. Adding some texture and heft to my usual lacy style was something I hadn’t really done before; expect more dives down that rabbit hole in future designs.
Britomart is 10% until Saturday, November 13 with the coupon code BRITOMART10. The pattern is available on both Ravelry and Payhip.
I’m excited to hear what you all think about these designs!
