Sandra's Designing Blog

This is an exclusive area of my web site where you can find out more about my knitted designs, what inspires me, how I work and what I like (and don't like) to design. 
 
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Category: Kits & Patterns

  1. Trusting the Process

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    Trusting the Process

    Today I’m sharing two projects close to my heart:

    The first is one I’m knitting myself from a design I created at a recent workshop. I talked about the design in my last newsletter, I'm part way through knitting the back, starting from one side edge and working across ways.

    Now I have some worries about this design that I know I will overcome in time.

    1. There is shaping for the shoulders which goes right up the back of the neck, which at the moment looks quite weird  This was also in Lisa's original design and I know that it sat nicely on my shoulders when I tried it on. Hopefully when I sew the shoulders together it will make sense.

    2. The fabric is knit in a slip stitch pattern, but I've knit the stiches (with some slips) on the right side row and purled the wrong side row so its basically a stocking stitch fabric. And as you know stocking stitch curls at the cast on and cast off edges. Because I'm working sideways, these edges will end up in the side seams (that's all ok) and the front edge border. So will I have to add on a front edge border to straighten out that curl?

    3. All those yarn ends that I will have to weave in. I'm going to do some research to see the best way of doing this to make sure it' doesn't end up bulky.

    I know I just have to trust the process stitch by stitch
     
    Scrap Yarn Designing Blog Post
    FREE PATTERN - Striata Cowl
    The high back neckline of Lisa Richardson's original design.
     

    The second one is soon to appear in "The Knitter" magazine, where as usual I’ve entrusted the process to a whole team.

     When I submit a design to a magazine, I place my trust in others. The technical editors check the numbers with precision, the photographers style and capture the garment in its best light, and the editors set the pattern beautifully within the pages. Each of us plays our part, and together the process works.
    Amesbury - A 'Zig Zaggy' Brioche scarf pattern is to appear in issue 220 available 2nd of October.  I'm so looking forward to the magazine popping through my letterbox in the next few days. In the meantime I'll share this one preview photo I have. 

    As designers, knitters and makers, we all have those moments of doubt—but trusting the process often leads to something more beautiful than we first imagined.

    So....... just trust the process & happy knitting x

    Sandra

  2. My latest adventure in scrap yarn designing

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    I’ve been continuing my journey with leftover yarn – something close to many knitters’ hearts. If you saw my recent newsletter, you’ll know I shared my free Striata Cowl pattern (you can still find it here), designed to use up those odd little scraps we all keep tucked away. Leftover yarn projects aren’t just practical – they’re creative, sustainable, and often spark ideas we’d never have thought of with full skeins.
    FREE PATTERN - Striata Cowl
    A few days ago, I took this idea further by attending a designer workshop run by the talented Lisa Richardson, who happens to live in my village (and formerly worked with Rowan). The workshop theme? Designing a garment entirely from stash yarn.
    We were asked to bring two things:

    • A garment we already loved and wore often.

    • Some yarn from our stash to play with.
    I chose a favourite red A-line top as my starting point, and brought yarn in shades of blue, taupe, cream, and pink.

    The day began with swatching – not just for tension (I measured half a tension square 5cm x 5cm and then doubled) but also to explore whether we liked the fabric our oddments produced. Lisa encouraged us to try different techniques such as stripes, Fair Isle, intarsia, and slip stitch. My first experiment was striped slip stitch knitting, which I turned vertically to imagine slimming stripes on my A-line top. Clever in theory, but when I tried to add shaping with German short rows, the abrupt stops in the striping didn’t sit right with me. Time to rethink!

    Luckily, Lisa had brought along some sample garments, and I fell in love with one: a very simple design , The Fowberry, with no complicated shaping (just at the shoulders), no extra bottom or front bands, and the option to add sleeves later if I wished. It was a revelation – something achievable without too much maths (a relief in a busy workshop environment!).
    As an added bonus, I picked up plenty of insights listening to Lisa guide other designers – and was reassured that the way I calculate my own designs is indeed on the right track.
     

    Behind the scenes: my schematic + sums

    Here’s a little glimpse of the sort of rough notes I made during the day. It doesn’t look fancy – just sketches with measurements, and stitch counts. But this is the backbone of turning an idea into something wearable.

    • Garment shape: straight body with slight shoulder shaping.

    • Gauge from swatch: [24 sts x 32 rows = 10 cm].

    • Back length: [38cm] ÷ gauge = number of stitches to cast on.

    • Body width: [59cm] ÷ row gauge = rows needed across the back

    • Shoulder shaping - calculation concludes need to increase every 3 or 4 rows to middle then decrease down in the same way.

    It’s all very rough at this stage, but enough to get the knitting underway!

     

    I’m now nearly halfway across the back piece, and have already encountered a small issue that I’ll need to solve once I reach the end. I’ll share more about that (and whether I succeed!) in my next newsletter, so you can follow along with the whole process.