With the color scheme for the new collection picked out, I ran around TNNA with a mission. I held up the paint chips I’d picked out to yarn in just about every booth! It was fun to do things a little backward from how I normally do them. Usually I pet a yarn, love the yarn, then pick a color that will work, so it was a singular experience to do it backward.
When I was brainstorming ideas about the stitch motif theme for the collection I came up with a bunch of different ideas, but the one that stuck was Chevrons and all the different ways you can make them, with lace, cables, shifting motifs that merge, increases and decreases in the fabric, colorwork, chevrons that meet together to create larger chevrons or even stripes within mitered squares. There were so many options that I had to narrow it down before I could really begin. In the end I decided on 3 different methods for chevrons and 6 pieces for the collection (2 of each technique).
Once I’d picked yarns that would work colorwise, I sat down to sketch the designs. My sketches are usually pretty rough, so my apologies for the vagueness. Hopefully they’ll be just enough to wet your appetite.
The first two designs have chevrons executed using lace. Click any of the photos to see them bigger.
This sock will have a staggered chevron lace panel down each side of the leg, which splits at the heel and travels on both sides of the heel flap as well as down the foot. The deep ribbing at the top of the cuff will make for a really lovely fit.
The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine which has fast become one of my favorites. Its hand is so beautiful, while still being a nice round yarn with great stitch definition. And you really can’t beat the beautiful heathered colorways!
This scarf is going to be so lovely! Knit from point to point, short row wedges in reverse stockinette will make the whole thing curve in a really fetching way, and the chevron lace panel will sit on the shorter edge of the curve.
The swatch was really an experiment and I learned a lot from it. The finished piece will have much more subtle short row sections, and the whole thing will be knit at a larger gauge than I knit the swatch. The yarn is Glint (of Goldfish) Lace from Alisha Goes Around (the new favorite booth at TNNA). It’s an 80% merino/20% silk laceweight. One of the many things I loved about her yarns is the names. They’re all named with collective nouns of animals, like “Panoply of Peacocks” and “Charm of Hummingbirds”.
Tomorrow I’ll show you the next two pieces.
