I'd like to welcome Woodbine to the fold! You may remember this pattern from September last year when it made its debut in Issue 9 of Laine Magazine. In fact, Woodbine was featured on the cover of this issue, a surprise that caught me off guard. It was a lovely honour to be featured on the cover. Thanks, Laine!
Today, I’ll be releasing Woodbine as a single pattern in my online shops through Ravelry and LoveCrafts. However, before I do, I thought I would share some of the process behind this design.
Photo from Pinterest.
Photo from Pinterest.
Photo from Pinterest.
The proposal for Woodbine was first sent off in June of 2018. Laine was seeking submissions for their Winter Issue 7, a collection that would be photography in Northern Finland. The above photos were the mood-board pictures I was drawn to the most. This pullover was designed to capture the imagery inspired by wood cabins and forests covered in a blanket of snow. However, spots filled up quickly with the amount of proposals they received. The team was still intrigued by my submission and would find a spot for it in their Autumn/Winter Issue 9.
Original sketch.
Cover of Laine Issue 9.
From the beginning, I had ideas of using Eden Cottage Yarn for this project. I’ve been in love with Victoria’s colours from a long time since working at Loop and restocking it on the shelves. I had used her Bowland DK before for in my own projects and thought her warm and romantic colours would be perfect. Also, the subtle hand dyed nature of her yarn would not distract from detail in the lace pattern. At the time, I knew Eden Cottage would be launching a new mohair lace, Eldwick Lace, and was interested in combing that with the Bowland DK.
Original sketch.
In March 2019, ventured to Edinburgh Yarn Festival, for the first time since moving home from London. There I was able to mull over the colours directly at Eden Cottage’s stall. I started to really fall in love with the Aran version of Bowland. I imagined this Blue Faced Leicester base would be just as lovely to work with as the DK weight. I thought I would go bigger and still add the Eldwick Lace into the mix. The two yarn together create a really lofty and lightweight sweater. Plus, it knits up quickly too!
Woodbine swatch in Bowland Aran and Eldwick Lace.
Woodbine begins with knitting the front and back lace panels, which are then joined at the shoulders. To complete the body of the sweater, stitches are picked up along the front and back edge of the lace panels to be knit sideways. The side seams are closed with the three-needle bind-off method before continuing on to finishing the sleeves which are then worked in the round. The neckband is picked up last and also finished in the round. For the lace I used a pattern known as Fir Cone Lace. This was a different method of sweater construction for me, building part of it sideways. However, I loved the outcome and may play around with it again in the future.
Photography by Laine.
Photography by Laine.
Photography by Laine.
Once again, I worked the a great group of test knitters who helped tweak this design. I think this was the largest group I managed yet. I loved seeing all of their finished projects and how they decided to interpret Woodbine. Many are much more colourful than the original and have given me many ideas if I find the time to knit another version for myself. Woodbine can be knit in one, two or even three colours. You can see many more on Woodbine’s Ravelry Project page! Once again, Woodbine is now available as a single downloadable PDF pattern. You can find it here on Ravelry, or here on LoveCrafts.
Knitwhitted’s on Ravelry.
Tina1006’s on Ravelry.
Cowtownknits’ on Ravelry.
Ironaknit’s on Ravelry.