Summer Memories

It does seem a little ironic that as I write this post, there are officially only 15 days until the start of Summer (but who's counting) and I am actually shivering. It is cold. Unseasonably cold, even for Victoria.  I think I need to light the fire but it really does seem ridiculous to be lighting a fire in the afternoon mid-way through November. I shall hold off for a little while longer.

But right now Summer does seem like both a long time ago, and a long time in coming.   

Digressions aside, what I really want to talk about is my new collection of patterns, all collected together under the title Summer Memories. This collection has four patterns; two adult and two child. All are related patterns and all are getting lots of wear in our household, even without the Summer weather. 

The main design element of this whole collection is this circular lace that is reminiscent of ferris wheels, carousels and even katherine wheels. These are all such Summery memories for me; local seaside Summer carnivals with their crazy rides, folk and atmospheres and New Years Eve and Australia Day fireworks. 

The garments in the collection are all interrelated. There is a long loungy cardie (pictured above) and a short cropped 50s style bolero, in both the adult and child size. 

This lace is worked both vertically down the side of the cardie and bolero and down the back of the cardie. It is also repeated on the cardie's pockets and worked horizontally as a "brooch" on the bodice section of both styles.

The construction is, you will be surprised, a twist on the traditional raglan top-down seamless construction. If you have knit either Lizzie or Elizabeth you will be familiar with this construction. I do so like it. I like the way it changes ever so slightly the sit of a garment on the shoulders and I like the way it creates a longer back than front. It's a bit fun too!

I really enjoyed knitting all four pieces, which is a bit of a surprise. I'm easily distracted by the new and pretty and quite often begrudge having to knit something multiple times, unless I really love it. And I do love these. There is quite a bit of knitting in the longer cardies due to their slouchy look, but even with all that stocking stitch they were never boring. The lace panels kept it interesting and fun, just enough lace to be a distraction but not too much that you had to concentrate intently.

The patterns include both charts and instructions for working the lace to cater for everyone's preference.

The pattern range will fit from a 19 inch chest right up to a 50 inch chest, or for the metric amongst you, 48 to 127cms.   The sample garments shown here are the 23" and the 32". 

I worked with some really lovely yarns for this collection. All yarns came from local Australian indie dyers and in one case, an indie breeder and manufacturer.  The yarns I used were (from top down) Never-Ending Obsession Kona Sport for the first two garments, Wendy Dennis polwarth/silk 5ply and Little Plum Yarn Supertwist Sport.

Sport weight is such a great weight for this time of the year. I could wax lyrically about the wonderfulness of sport weight yarn for quite some time. It's a great weight for our climate, and really at 24 stitches over 4 inches the tension is not that much smaller than an 8ply. So if you're hesitant about knitting with a smaller weight yarn, seriously don't be. The results are well worth the effort. 

You can purchase the patterns either as part of the ebook, or individually via my Ravelry store.

And if you get in before the end of the day on November 15th GMT (I have no idea how that equates to AEDST) use the coupon code giftalong for 25% off. You can use this code with all of my patterns for the same discount.

Happy knitting!