What have I been making? Shocking Pink

I like the fact that there is a seasonal rhythm to our year. I like the fact that in January I dedicate weekends to full blown marmalade production. Now at the end of August the trees are heavily laden with plums and my mind turns to sticky jam making. All is pretty pink and has soft tones in that late summer light.

This year has been very book focused. So much so that I have failed to share with you my latest book published in any detail. I promise I will. One book, started in the very early Spring is now finished. Things will happen in the background now and I won’t see it until Spring next year. Then over the summer I have been designing items for the next book. These are all things I can’t share with you as the develop, which makes for a very quiet and dull blogging life.

But….but… when I am designing, I also need my hobby projects. Items which have no pattern, no purpose apart from delighting me. Firstly lets talk about my new Granny Squares Jacket. I have called it my Dahlia jacket, as the colours are inspired by the vivid tones of glorious Dahlias. I made a red Granny Squares jacket years ago (2017!), way before the last seasons fashion obsession of our joyful classic squares. I love it very much and it often makes an appearance around Christmas time. This original jacket is made in Stylecraft Life DK and it has knitted sleeves using a double moss stitch pattern. I knitted the sleeves as I wanted to eliminate the bulk of a crochet stitch. But even as I was making it, I thought…perhaps I could create these sleeves in a crochet linen stitch for the same type of drape.

In early summer I went off the Black Sheep Wools for a book signing event and the evening before I thought…’it would be helpful if I had a summery Granny Squares jacket….something bright and colourful…’. The idea of the Dahlia version was born. I took the idea of the colours in our garden at that time and threw in a little bit of neon pink for added zing. Sitting with my family watching the TV, both boys would look across and then immediately avert their eyes, declaring…’argh! it’s too bright!’. Good I say. Exactly the look I am aiming for.

So I used my first jacket as a template, and made the set it sleeves in crochet linen stitch. I made this jacket slightly smaller as I always make my knitwear far too large. I am more than happy with it… it is bright and joyful. Looks great with white. I think it will work in the early autumn. I can only apologise to friends who are forced to spend time with me wearing it.

I know some people may ask, have I created a pattern? I am sorry that I haven’t. For a number of years I designed crochet garments for Inside Crochet Magazine, which I loved. But I found the sizing challenging and I am always very conscious that creating a design needs to encapsulate all sizes and shapes. Perhaps in the future I will work with a tech-editor on this design. In the mean time I will enjoy wearing the jacket in all it’s crazy colours.

For those who have interest – the colour recipe is from Stylecraft Special DK – I have used Bright pink for the base and added in Spice, Dandelion, Powder Pink, Vintage Peach, Pomegranate the real zinger is Fiesta… I adore it. I have used linen stitch for the edges and have created a collar, exactly like my first jacket. It hurts the eyes to look at. No photo really does the colour justice, but boy does it make me smile x

If you are looking for something simpler to make, I have seen that lots of people have returned to my free Autumn pumpkin pattern which is in my shop. This has been available for years and it is a really simple pattern for the season ahead.