Hapsarehappening KAL!

Goodness me, it's been non-stop around here over the last couple of weeks! I had a great trip up to Edinburgh to hang out with these lovely ladies at Kathy's Knits:

Left to right are: Me, Lucy Hague, Kate Davies and Gudrun Johnston. What a treat it was to be in the same room, and be able to chat and catch up. It has left me very inspired for future projects...

We were there to sign copies of our new book, The Book of Haps, which has been landing on doormats across the UK, and will soon arrive throughout the world. It has been somewhat overwhelming to hear everyone's lovely words about this project, but the enthusiasm has been infectious, and an epidemic of startitis has erupted! I've got Theme and Variation on my needles already, but I feel that a second project from the book is imminent. So what better way to celebrate this, then to run a knitalong?!

Over in our Ravelry group (Arnall-Culliford Knitwear - have you joined yet?) you can participate in the HapsarehappeningKAL.

It's very straightforward:
The official kick-off is this Friday (17th June 2016), but no penalties if you can't wait that long! And it runs until Monday 8th August. 

Please join the Arnall-Culliford Knitwear group. 

Any pattern from The Book of Haps is eligible. 

There will be weekly work in progress (WIP) prizes of single pattern downloads from the book’s contributors, as well as the following finished object (FO) prizes at the end of the KAL: 
5 single pattern download codes 
A yarn prize for a finished hap 
A special bird-related prize for a finished Nut-Hap inspired by a specific bird

You are welcome to “double dip” in any other KAL running at the same time (other KAL rules may vary!). Louise Scollay is running a Bookofhaps-along in the KnitBritish group that is open to double dipping - so you can knit one hap an enter both KALs.

To be eligible for WIP prizes, please post an in progress photo in the WIP thread (chatter welcome), and in order to be eligible for an FO prize, please post in the relevant FO thread (Nut-Haps; General - no chatter please).

Details of the prizes will follow! 
Please tag your projects here on Ravelry, and hashtag across social media, with #hapsarehappeningKAL

You can see Ravelry projects tagged hapsarehappeningKAL here: http://bit.ly/1YmKayg
And Instagram images tagged #hapsarehappeningKAL here: Instagram haps

I'm planning to finish off my Theme and Variation - just 2 more edging stripes to go! And then I need to dig in my stash to decide what my next project will be. I am thinking of either Harewood by Bristol Ivy, Uncia by Lucy Hague or Shore Hap by Martina Behm. Too many lovely possibilities! There are already 90 projects from The Book of Haps loaded on Ravelry, so it won't be long before I start falling in love with other options, I'm sure...

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Images © Jen Arnall-Culliford

Pattern talk: Theme and Variation

I've taken a step into the unknown, and tried my hand at video! We've been working with Jesse Wild for some time. I first met him when I worked on The Knitter, and he's been doing my pattern photography for a while. Jim and I have been discussing making some techniques tutorials for a while, so we decided to call in Jesse to do some filming with us. We've made a couple of techniques videos that I'll post over the coming weeks, but to start us off, we've done something more informal. It's basically me sitting in my studio chatting to you about my knitting. Do let us know what you think!

Covers yarn and needle choices for making Theme and Variation by Veera Välimäki

We filmed this video a few weeks back, and as an update, I can confirm that this pattern is EXTREMELY addictive. I've really struggled to put it down over the holidays, and I'm now on to the edging, so the end is absolutely in sight! Despite my early thoughts, the KnitPro Symfonie circulars have actually been absolutely fine with the yarn. I haven't had any difficulty with the yarn snagging at the join, or splitting with the sharp tips. It's been a great combination!

I'm so looking forward to giving this to the VERY special teacher I'm making it for. We will miss her so much next year.

Links for the video
Theme and Variation by Veera Välimäki - purchase The Book of Haps below - my project page on Ravelry: JenACKnitwear's Theme and Variation
Meadow Yarn
Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light
KnitPro circular needles
Fripperies and Bibelots stitch markers
In the video I'm wearing my Redlynch shawl (you can purchase the pattern below).

Shore Hap by Martina Behm

If you look back through the blog archives, you'll see that I'm a bit of a Martina Behm fangirl... I've knitted both Hitchhiker and Miss Winkle, and I love the simple but interesting way that she uses stitches. So it is with delight that I can share the final design for The Book of Haps - Shore Hap by Martina Behm

Martina's designs are what some might describe as potato-chippy. You can't just knit one row, you have to keep having another and another. This beautiful hap starts at the point of one side and increases up to the neck. You then work another piece in a similar way, before joining the two halves together to create the kite-like shape at back neck. This is one of those designs you could wear in any number of ways. Head over to Kate's blog to read more about the maritime inspiration behind the Shore Hap, and to see many more pictures of this versatile piece.

I've so enjoyed sharing all of these fantastic haps with you all. There is such variation in the approaches taken by our fantastic team of designers. Now I can't wait for books to start landing with knitters - it's going to be fun watching everyone cast on.

Over in our Ravelry group we will be running a Book of Haps knitalong, starting in mid-late June. There will be prizes! So do join the group and keep an eye out for more details.

You can now see all of the patterns on Ravelry: The Book of Haps

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
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All images © Kate Davies Designs.

Hapisk by Hélène Magnússon

Today, the penultimate hap has been unveiled - Hapisk - an Icelandic take on the Shetland hap. Hélène Magnússon has taken inspiration from traditional Icelandic knitted textiles, and applied them in her lovely Hapisk - an Icelandic hap.

Hapisk uses Hélène's own Gilitrutt Tvíband lace weight yarn in garter stitch stripes, with a lace edging pattern. Like all of the lace and cable patterns in the book, the instructions are provided in both written and charted formats, so you can choose which you prefer. For the larger charts, the written instructions are provided in the download Appendix to The Book of Haps, which forms part of the complimentary eBook accompanying all print copies.

You will find a fascinating interview with Hélène over on Kate's blog today. And all of Hapisk's technical details can be found through Ravelry: The Book of Haps

The next design will be revealed tomorrow on Kate's blog, so don't forget to stop by. You can see all of the patterns as they are released on Ravelry: The Book of Haps

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
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All images © Kate Davies Designs

Hamegaet by Hazel Tindall

This lovely pre-launch period of sharing a hap a day is drawing to a close, with today's and just two more designs remaining. Today's beautiful Hamegaet Wrap by Hazel Tindall is shared in detail over on Kate's blog: Hamegaet by Hazel Tindall

Hazel's design features lovely Fair Isle shoulder panels, from which the body stitches are picked up and worked downwards. This is the book's only 3-dimensional design, with a lovely shoulder capelet / wrap shape. The perfect garment to keep the chill off your shoulders!

This design uses charts for the colourwork, and written instructions for the remainder of the pattern. The texture is a simple to work, but very effective stitch pattern.

It is now the half-term holidays in the UK, so I have my hands full with the children for the week. The last two designs will both be introduced over on Kate's blog, so do be sure to pop over them and read all about Hélène's and Martina's gorgeous haps! Jim and I have been working hard behind the scenes to get some short videos ready for publication on our YouTube channel - and we will of course post them here too. In the meantime, have a great week! Happy knitting!

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All images © Kate Davies Designs.

Uncia by Lucy Hague

A warm welcome to today's hap designer: Lucy Hague

Lucy's work may be familiar to you, thanks to her wonderful book of Pictish and Celtic inspired shawls, Celtic Cable Shawls, which she published last year. Lucy grew up in the Orkney Islands to the north of Scotland, and now lives in Edinburgh. She wonders whether there may be an inherited interest in yarn and textiles, following a discovery on a recent trip to visit relatives in Lancashire that many of her ancestors worked as weavers. Lucy studied music technology at university in Edinburgh and loves the city so much that she has never left. Whilst at university, she discovered beautiful yarn shops, and rekindled an interest in knitting. As Lucy explains, "I started publishing patterns in 2011. Before then, I used to quite happily modify patterns and make up a lot of my own stuff, as many knitters do, but I'd never tried out pattern-writing. I received a lot of great feedback on Ravelry about some of my knitting, so I decided to have a go at writing patterns and found it was something I really enjoyed. I love how knitting design requires both artistic and mathematical thinking - it engages so many different parts of your brain that you can never really get bored of it!"

When she's not knitting or designing, Lucy also plays a number of instruments - "Pictism is the band I play with most frequently, we play a lot of Scottish and Irish folk music. I also play keys and tin whistle in Jacob's Pillow, which is an original experimental folk-rock band."

Here's Lucy to explain where the inspiration for her Uncia design came from:

In the summer of 2015 I travelled across France and Germany, and whilst there I took the opportunity to visit many fine examples of Gothic and Romanesque church architecture; most notably the abbey of Mont St Michel in Lower Normandy, the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire in Carcassonne and Cologne Cathedral. I’m entranced by these places for their sense of stillness and grace – there’s something about the immensity of space contained within such structures that draws your eye upwards in wonderment. There is a feeling of balance in the structure of the whole, which reveals increasing (but never overwhelming) complexity in the details the longer you look.

The intricate lace and cable patterns that I developed for this hap were heavily influenced by this style of architecture; I wanted to evoke a sense of the solidity and grace of huge stone pillars gradually curving upwards into an elegant airy tracery, and the slow shift from a heavily textured cabled fabric into the openness of lace seems to evoke this. I also wanted to give a sense of stacked arches, reaching higher and higher into the heavens. The organic, almost plant-like shapes in the lace towards the end of the edging were inspired directly by shapes found in the windows of the abbey of Mont St Michel.

A rose window at the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire in Carcassonne (image © Lucy Hague)

The unusual shape of this hap was inspired by the geometry of a typical rose window (a type of circular window often seen in Gothic and Romanesque churches, with regular segments radiating out like the petals of a flower). Often the main segments are based on one-twelfth divisions of the circular area. Whilst experimenting with different shapes to use for this hap, I found that a one-twelfth-circle arc produced a hap that was very easy to wear, whether draped across the body or rolled in over itself slightly as more of a scarf. I found also (with a bit of trigonometry!) that the measurements and area of fabric produced are very similar to that of a traditional top-down triangular knitted shawl, so for knitters who are used to making and wearing that shape, this provides a style that is familiarly wearable but with a bit of a twist. The shape of the hap also gives it its name – uncia in Latin means ‘one-twelfth.’

Many thanks to Lucy for creating such a beautiful hap for our collection!

Uncia uses 2 skeins on Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply, and you can find all of the pattern's technical details over on its Ravelry page: Uncia by Lucy Hague

The next design will be revealed tomorrow on Kate's blog, so don't forget to stop by. You can see all of the patterns as they are released on Ravelry: The Book of Haps

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
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All images © Kate Davies Designs unless otherwise stated.

Houlland by Donna Smith

Today's fabulous hap is from the lovely Donna Smith - Houlland.

Image © Kate Davies Designs.

Be sure to head over to Kate's blog to read all about the inspiration for this design - it's incredibly special: Houlland by Donna Smith

Lovely Donna has also recently joined our client list, and her first pattern download was released earlier this week. It's a fabulous colourwork cowl worked in dramatic black and white. The design is called Shallmillens, which means smithereens in Shetland dialect. The cowl (or snood) uses a series of short repeating motifs - making it the perfect project for someone new to colourwork - and just two colours.

Image © Donna Smith

You can read more about Shallmillens over on Donna's blog: Donna Smith Designs

Or head straight over to Ravelry to buy the pattern: Shallmillens

I'll be back tomorrow to reveal another stunning hap, so in the meantime, happy knitting!

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Lang Ayre by Gudrun Johnston

It makes me extremely hap-py to introduce the fabulous Lang Ayre hap from Gudrun Johnston! I've enjoyed working with Gudrun for a number of years, and her Hansel and Half-Hansel hap designs were among the most popular designs in the KnitBritish Hapalong last year - she's hap royalty! Having been born in Shetland and growing up in Scotland, Gudrun is steeped in the knitting heritage that The Book of Haps explores. Having lived in the States for much of her adult life, Gudrun is now in the process of moving her family from Edinburgh (Scotland) back to Western Massachusetts (USA), where she will continue her work as a full-time knitwear designer. Before taking up designing around 9 years ago, Gudrun trained as a classical singer and home-schooled her children. When she first moved to Western Massachusetts her daughter Maya had lost a much treasured blanket that someone else had made for her as a baby. As Gudrun walked past a knitting shop in the area, she spotted a cute poncho in the window and decided that she would knit it for her daughter as a replacement. That was it! She was totally addicted straight away and produced copious things, mostly given away as gifts. Fairly quickly Gudrun started to adapt patterns and experiment with her own ideas, which led to her first design being published in Knitty in 2007. The rest has become knitting history...

I caught up with Gudrun to find out more about her influences and knitting inspiration.

Jen: As evidenced by my project pages on Ravelry, I’ve loved making quite a few of your designs, and I greatly enjoy working as your technical editor. Shetland clearly provides a rich source of inspiration for your beautiful designs. Could you explain what you think it is about the islands that are so irresistible?

Gudrun: I would have to say that the fact that you are constantly surrounded by long open views and never far from the ocean are two pretty irresistible aspects of being in Shetland. I find that when I visit the first thing I feel is this incredible sense of space and the calm that it provides. I almost feel that my brain can take a big sign of relief and think clearly!

Lang Ayre beach, Shetland. Image © Gudrun Johnston

Depending on the time of year the light and weather also play a huge impact on the vistas and create ever changing colours and hues across the landscape. You can’t help but be inspired by the incredible palette on offer everywhere you look.

I would say that, having been born there, Shetland is just in my blood. But I know from my trips how instantly other people - with no similar connection to Shetland - fall in love with the place for just the same reasons!

Jen: That's exactly how I felt after my visits to Shetland in 2012. I long to return!

Jen: The technique of creating a hap centre starting with a single stitch is one you have used before to great effect (shawls such as Aestlight, Flukra and Havra all use this technique). Could you describe what it is that you love about this method?

Gudrun: I just love how simple yet effective it is. It’s also very meditative to knit! The little yarn overs popping out the side of the garter stitch fabric are pretty darn cute too. I have enjoyed experimenting with it a little, as evidenced by Lang Ayre, where the center diamond is formed in this way but then two further triangles are attached by picking up the yarn over loops as they are worked creating a sort of modular effect, one which could keep on being added too really.

Jen: I may have mentioned a few times that choosing colours (particularly more than two!) is something that I don’t find easy. I’m sure that I am not alone in this. Do you have any words of wisdom, or rules of thumb to help me out with choosing 6 shades for Lang Ayre?

Choosing colours is always a challenging thing, particularly when doing so for Fair Isle knitting. I still need a lot of practice with that! However, for something like Lang Ayre, where the colours are interacting in stripes, it’s a little easier. When I was thinking of colours for this shawl I did have a specific palette in mind and that was of the various shades that granite can be found in the Shetland landscape. That meant all the shades of pinks and greys I could find in J&S jumper weight. I then picked a main colour that they could play off of without being in competition with it. My old favourite shade of 202 was the best option!

My advice would be to either start with a main colour you like and then add in the contrasts based on that or vice versa. Really you can play around with this a huge amount, being quite bold in your colour choices or choosing more soothing shades. Whatever speaks to your personality! Have fun with it.

Jen: You regularly take groups of knitters on tours of Shetland with Mary Jane Mucklestone. Where else, and with whom would you most like to knit?

Gudrun: Gosh, that’s quite a difficult question to answer as there are so many places and people that come to mind! I’d love to travel to Japan. I’m very drawn to the knitting aesthetic coming out of there, and I’m interested in the culture in general. New Zealand is another place I’d love to spend time in and find out more about the wooly side of things happening over there. Finland, Estonia, Russia to name but just a few!

Of course I’d want Mary Jane to come on all of these adventures with me!!

Thank you so much Gudrun for sharing more about your wonderful design and the inspiration behind it!

Gudrun's Lang Ayre hap uses Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper Weight in 5 shades. For full technical details see the pattern page on Ravelry: Lang Ayre by Gudrun Johnston

The next design will be revealed on Kate's blog tomorrow, so don't forget to stop by. You can see all of the patterns as they are released on Ravelry: The Book of Haps

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All images © Kate Davies Designs, unless otherwise stated.

Nut-Hap

Quite some time ago, I wrote Knitting Ruined my Wife: an occasional column for Simply Knitting magazine. One of the articles was entitled The Girl Who Cried Tubular Cast-On; a nearly true story of my being kept awake because Jen just couldn't stop thinking about "this wonderful technique".

Jen loves exploring the relationship between techniques and construction and her Nut-Hap is no exception. Inspired by a tiny woodland bird, the Nut-Hap incorporates tucks and, yes, the (in)famous tubular cast-on. Find out more about the design on Kate's blog.

Keep looking here and on Kate's blog for the other haps in the collection that are still to be unveiled. Why not subscribe to this blog and join our Ravelry group to keep up to date with this and other projects we're working on? 

Jim

Photos ©Kate Davies Designs

Theme and Variation by Veera Välimäki

Huge and exciting drumroll for Veera Välimäki's design from The Book of Haps: Theme and Variation

 

 

Finnish designer Veera (to rhyme with fairer), has been designing knitwear for 7 years. She learned to knit more than 20 years ago, and it has been her passion for the last decade. Having studied architecture, Veera turned to publishing knitting patterns, and soon patterns such as her Still Light Tunic, Folded and Stripe Study shawl were going viral among the knitting community. I caught up with her to chat about her hap design...

 

Jen: I am a big fan of your aesthetic! Your designs have an inherent simplicity (both in the knitting, and in the finished design), without being trivial. How do you bring something fresh to each new design, without losing that? Do you ever get tempted to throw in 5 extra techniques, or a bonkers complicated stitch pattern?

 

Veera: Oh, such a good question! I think this might have something to do with me being a total process knitter - and designer! If I'm not enjoying the knitting, I really will not enjoy the finished piece. This is why I want to make the knitting process smooth and fun, and often it will show in the finished piece too. Partly, I started designing knitwear because at the time I couldn't find patterns I liked. My style has always been quite simple and I wanted my knits to be like that too!

 

 

Jen: One of the things I love about the collection of haps in this book, is the variety of shapes the designers have all chosen. You’ve designed over 70 neck accessories - what’s your favourite shape to knit, and is that the same as your favourite shape to wear?

 

Veera: I tend to choose the shawl shapes based on how I most often like to wear them - and I like my shawls wrapped around my neck multiple times! Only rarely I keep my shawl just on my shoulders or fasten it with a shawl pin. That's why my most favourite shapes are always longer in wingspan! But sometimes I just want to try out a shape that I find not so easy to wear. 

 

Knitting-wise I like the shawl to start with just a few stitches and end with gazillion. That way I can keep my interest in the actual knitting; first the shawl grows super fast and when the rows are getting very long and tedious, I will already see how awesome the shawl will be in the end and that will keep me going!

 

 

Jen: I’ve got a confession to make… I cast on Theme and Variation a couple of weeks ago, when we were working on the final book proofs. I was lucky enough to have some help (from the yarn shop where I bought my yarn) in choosing two shades of Tosh Merino Light. Choosing colours is something many people find tricky. Do you have any advice for knitters planning shade combinations for your design?

 

Veera: Choosing colours is one of my favorite parts of designing and knitting in general! Since colour is perceived in such an individual way, there really aren't wrong or right answers. But whatever colours you choose, make sure you know what you are choosing or maybe more accurately know what you want! If you want to have a very dynamic, bold and flamboyant hap, choose high contrast colours or complimentary colours. For a more subtle outcome, choose colours accordingly - maybe with less contrast or analogous colours!

 

Jen: Thank you so much for being part of Team Haps, and for talking to me about your design.

 

 

Theme and Variation comes in three sizes (modelled shots in the largest size, my knitting photo in the medium size), and uses 2-3 skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light. For full technical details, see the Ravelry pattern page for Theme and Variation. 

The next design will be revealed tomorrow on Kate's blog, so don't forget to stop by. You can see all of the patterns as they are released on Ravelry: The Book of Haps

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
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Final image © Arnall-Culliford Knitwear, all other images © Kate Davies Designs.