I’ve got some new craft projects to add to my list of WIPs and there’s so much I am feeling really excited about. I think with the changing of the seasons, I am just ready for Autumn and all the crafts and layers of knitwear that come with it!
A look at my latest knitting project, a finished object, ambitious weaving plans, 5 knitting patterns for Autumn and my new bramble skirt.
The arrival of autumn and the transition towards knit season already has me very excited about my crafts! Take a look at my latest craft projects, some recent finished objects, my latest handspun cast on and the Thread and Yarn Bramble skirt I made for, er, reasons...
I'm wearing my Galdor Cardigan
The knitted cardigan I’m wearing in the podcast video is Galdor. It’s a V-neck, open cardigan with these lovely stranded colourwork bands around the front edge and sleeve cuffs. It has half-length sleeves that sit just below the elbow, which are great if you’re doing the washing up. I get loads of wear out of it in the warmer weather and transitional months. Easy to get in and out of, and super easy to wear.
I’m wearing my first sample I knit using three limited edition 4-ply yarns from Woolly Mammoth Fibre Company. I stuck with the natural sheepy colours and chose Blue Texel blended with Cheviot for the main colour, and Dorset Horn and Jacobs for the two contrasting shades.
Find the Galdor knitting pattern on my website
Find the Galdor knitting pattern on Ravelry
I've layered it with my Scrumper Waistcoat
Underneath, I'm wearing a cropped version of my Scrumper Waistcoat knitting pattern. Scrumper is a textured waistcoat with lovely cables and moss stitch details. It’s not quite warm enough to wear on its own at the moment, but I do love using it as a layering piece when it gets really chilly - and it looks particularly cute with my new Bramble Skirt.
I knit this in a beautiful yarn I got from my friend Kat, which I dyed with wode seeds from my old garden. I finished it off with some handmade wood buttons by Tom Dyson Woodworking. These are the yew ones, but I also have laburnum wood buttons available on my website.
Find the Scrumper Waistcoat knitting pattern on my website
Find the Scrumper Waistcoat knitting pattern on Ravelry
I sewed a Bramble skirt
I needed a new skirt (for...reasons, which are obvious from the photo)!
The Bramble Skirt is a sewing pattern, or rather a YouTube video and sewing tutorial by my lovely friend Lorna of Thread and Yarn. It's set up on a pay-as-you-can basis, which makes it really accessible if you want to sew your own. You might remember that Lorna and I went fabric shopping with her in my previous summer vlog and came home with some lovely natural fabrics from Organic Textile Company. I had grand plans to make something long and rectangular, but when I got the fabric home, I realised a Bramble skirt would be the perfect sewing project for it
I had a sewing day with the small boy (highly recommend Lorna's video tutorials for entertaining small children while you sneak in some making time). The skirt is practically a zero-waste sewing project, as it’s all panels of rectangles apart from the pocket pieces, which makes it extra satisfying for me.
I used the dotty organic cotton crossweave I picked up on sale, although I actually worked with the reverse side, as the dots aren't very me. I added three tucks in the bottom section to add a little more interest to the plainer fabric, and I love it! It was great to do a project in a day, which you just don’t get with knitting. Sometimes it's nice to have the instant gratification of a quicker craft project, don't you think?
I'll take this in at some point when I don't need quite so big a waistband, but for now, it's exactly what I need to be comfortable.
I (finally) finished knitting my red cardigan
If you’ve been watching the last few podcast episodes, you’ll know this one has been on my needles for a very long time - two years and a month, to be exact. But at last it’s cast off, blocked, and I've just finished it with some beautiful laburnum wood buttons made by Tom Dyson.
This cardigan is actually a brand-new design of mine, which I’ll be releasing later this autumn (make sure you’re signed up to my newsletter if you’d like to be the first to hear when it’s ready!). It’s worked seamlessly from the top down in a compound raglan style, with moss stitch panels running over the saddle shoulders. These panels continue down the sleeves, morphing into a pretty twisty detail before turning into a simple cable on the forearms. I’m especially happy with the shoulder fit on this one. The shaping is quite complex, with different rates of increase for all areas, which also change throughout. When I write up the knitting pattern, I’ll include a shaping table you can print to make it easier to follow the instructions for your chosen size.
The yarn is Rauma Finull in this lovely deep red (colour 4120), a very thoughtful gift from my friend Diana, who saw the shade and immediately thought of me. It’s a 100% Norwegian wool with a very similar feel and spec to my Mendip 4-ply, so I may well put together some yarn kits to make it easy to substitute. For now, though, I’m just delighted to finally have this cardigan finished and ready to wear.
I cast on a new knitting project; a handspun Pediment Sweater
In the last podcast, I spoke about the idea of making a Patreon video where I go through my yarn stash - which I did! I finished the recording with a little list of knitting projects I’d like to cast on, and I let my Patrons help me decide which one would go first. The winner was a Pediment Sweater, to be knit in a beautiful green handspun yarn I spun a couple of years ago.
It's a slightly sentimental handspun yarn, this one. I bought the fibre at Wonderwool two years ago, during a weekend where I was trading alone, camping in the freezing cold, and a couple of business friends very kindly invited me along to join their evening plans. I first bought a wool batt from Katie at Sealy MacWheely called Flock of Sheep, which was a mix of minty green, golden yellow, grey, brown, black, and cream. Katie does like a bit of sparkle in her hand-dyed yarns and spinning fibre, which isn’t really my thing, but this sparkle-free batt stood out to me.
The green and yellow were really quite vibrant, so I took the batt along to the open weekend at John Arbon Mill and picked out a couple of wool tops to ply with it and soften the colours a little. I chose Devonia in Sage Sprig (a soft, middling green) and Nasturtium (a special edition shade of green, orange, white, and grey). The idea was to carry the green fibre throughout and spin with the other two fibres, and I love how it turned out. It’s knitting up incredibly quickly because it's just so enjoyable to see the short pops of colour.
The yarn pairs beautifully with the decreasing moss stitch panels of my Pediment design, which makes it feel like I am accelerating as I continue knitting the body. It's completely addictive, and I’ve been grabbing every opportunity to pick up my knitting needles.
In the interests of knitting a jumper that has slightly more positive ease than my usual size, I'm making this in the third size (I normally knit a size 2). So this one will be a big, slouchy, comfy hug of a jumper in a yarn that makes me happy, handspun from fibres that make me happy. I can't wait to be able to wear it!
Find the Pediment Sweater knitting pattern on my website
Find the Pediment Sweater knitting pattern on Ravelry
My ambitious weaving project on my floor loom
I’ve been setting up my floor loom to weave some herringbone fabric - perhaps a rather ambitious weaving project. Up until now, the only thing I’ve properly woven on this loom is a sampler scarf, where I played around with a few twill variations. You can actually see the finished scarf in episode 71 of the podcast, but it was woven with much heavier yarn (mostly sport to DK weight), at a narrow width and not a huge warp.
This new weaving project is quite another story as I'm planning on spinning a very fine yarn, effectively lace weight if you think in knitting terms. For the weavers amongst you, I'm working at 26 EPI with 826 ends. So that’s 836 warp threads, which already makes my brain hurt! I’ll be using my natural grey and coreopsis hand-dyed British wool for both warp and weft, which I spoke about back in episode 72, and I think the two shades are going to look lovely together in the herringbone.
I won't lie, it is a bit of an intimidating craft project. Weaving already has a higher barrier to entry than, say, knitting and crochet, and this is one ambitious weaving project… I need to thread my heddles in a specific order to create the herringbone pattern, which is going to take a while, so I'm saving that job for when I have a decent chunk of time to concentrate. I will feed back when I have more…
5 knitting patterns for autumn knitting
I spent a lot of time last year designing a collection of five unisex knitting patterns, all inspired by British wool grown on farms local to me here in the South West of England. The full ebook, From This Land, came out at the end of 2024, showcasing all those sheepy shades and lovely textures of these farm yarns. I did a big video about this collection to coincide with the main launch, so I won’t go through all the individual designs again, but I have now made each pattern available to download individually so you can get them as one-offs - yay.
The knit designs were created to work together, to be worn outdoors, doing life, as a kind of woolly capsule wardrobe. There are five knitting patterns in total, each knit up in the yarn that inspired the design:
Hedge and Wall Hat
Hedge and Wall is a felted hat with a sturdy herringbone brim, designed to be properly weatherproof and keep your head dry and toasty.
The yarn that inspired this knit design was Devon Closewool DK from Lower Hampton Farm.
Lichen Stone Scarf
Lichen stone is a simple broken rib scarf with gently tapered ends.
The yarn that inspired this knit design was Rum & Raisin DK from Raw Wool Company.
Flock Flight Mitts
Flock flight are a pair of long, practical colourwork mittens with corrugated rib cuffs. The cuffs at the fingertips are foldable so you can fold them back to use your hands, or leave them long to keep warm.
The yarn that inspired this knit design was Jacob DK and Portland DK from The Woven Briar.
Valley Rooves Cardigan
Valley Rooves is a cosy, practical cardigan with saddle shoulders, cable details, pockets and an optional contrast trim.
The yarn that inspired this knit design was Shetland x Romney DK from Gullet Farm.
Tree Hay Tank
Tree Hay is a lovely colourwork V-neck tank top, perfect for layering through autumn and winter.
The yarn that inspired this knit design was Dorset Down 4ply and Shetland 4-ply from Gutchpool Farm.
As the idea behind the collection is to highlight local, sustainable, responsible yarn, each individual knitting pattern includes a bit of the story and the background of the yarn, as well as the written instructions.
You can see my entire Westcountry Collection just here. If you want just one pattern, probably get that one, but if you are interested in multiple knitting patterns, the full e-book is the best value.
I’m honestly so proud of this collection, and I love that I can share it with you all over again. I’d love to hear if you've got plans to knit any of them - if you do, please share with me over on Instagram. I love seeing all your craft projects.
Find my Westcountry Collection on my website
Find my Westcountry Collection on Ravelry
That’s all from me for now. Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll catch you next time!
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