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Welcome to today's blog of the Scheepjes YARN6 Blog Hop, where I get to tell you a little about my design. Don't forget to look for the secret symbol!
Carmen’s design Sleeping Reindeer is my favourite of the whole magazine – Soo darn whimsical and cute! I think many a Sleeping Reindeer with soon populate the earth - I can almost hear the buzz of swooshing crochet hooks, and I am absolutely going to make one!!
My contribution to YARN#6 FOLK Bookazine is the Olga cardigan, which I am proud to say is my first design published with Scheepjes!! Olga's Ravelry listing is here.
Olga started out life with a different working title, as a cardigan I made for myself in the (Australian) Summer of 2016/17 to wear with a cotton dress. I had seen a vibrant jade green cotton at my LYS and the colour was my inspiration. There was no grand plan. I wanted to design something feminine with botanical motifs contrasting against a filet ground fabric, and given the colour and the way it ended up growing from the leafy sleeve cuff, the name “Green Garden” popped into my head.
Totally backward - right? Cuffs are something you add at the end! Honestly it started as an experiment in how I could make a feature leafy cuff, with no vision of the whole garment. Once I had the cuff figured out and how I would join it to a sleeve, it occurred to me that maybe I could work inwards in the round, increasing the sleeve as I go, and that way I could try the sleeve on as necessary until it was the length I wanted and it felt comfortable at the armhole? Great theory - if only I could figure out how to increase working in an off-set filet bars and lacets pattern, AND still maintain that open lace feel along the join line that would effectively be the lower sleeve seam. Hmmm…
Numerous scribbled stitch charts and much frogging later, I had figured it out – whoop whoop - I could try my sleeve on as I went! There were quite a few trips to the mirror tied to a ball of green thread, and this helped to materialise my vision of the rest of the cardigan. My garment pattern ended up with quite an unusual method of construction, but I like the mantra “there are no rules”, so I just went ran with it.
I finished Green Garden in time to wear it out a couple of times before the end of Summer, and submitted it to the annual Crochet Guild of America design competition of July 2017. I was amazed to discover my little cardi won both the Grand Prize and the Technical Merit Prize! Disbelief!! I literally replayed the Facebook live video three times before I could believe it was true!
After the win, Simy Somer contacted me seeking to publish the pattern with Scheepjes, remade in Maxi Sugar Rush (....YES!!) I completed the new (and improved by the Maxi) garment, wrote and sized the pattern which I submitted in late 2017. It’s been a looong wait for me to see my little cardi in the beautiful YARN bookazine and I am just so thrilled! You never know where your next creation will take you.
My favourite part of the cardigan is the leafy edgings of course, but also the placket. The placket is not terribly interesting in and of itself, but the Maxi Sugar Rush came up a treat for the hardwearing neckline and front trim for the garment. It’s durable but also soft and pliable. I am a total Maxi convert and would like to make more fashion garments with this wonderful thread. The stitch definition is awesome!
Check out how the Maxi improved the definition of my lacework and sharpened the whole cardigan:
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Tomorrow be sure to check out what the amazing Rachele Carmona has to share about her Happy Folk Blanket. The styling Scheepjes used for the photos really enriches all those luscious cozy colours. Love it!!
Get your copy of YARN 6 bookazine - available from Scheepjes retailers, including
Don’t forget to find and compile all the secret symbols hidden in each Blog-Hop post, and comment the full phrase on the Scheepjes Facebook giveaway post for YARN 6! The giveaway is WORLDWIDE, and runs until November 11th. The winner will be announced November 12th and announced on Scheepjes FB page. Make sure you check back!
You could win a copy of YARN 6 & enough yarn to make your favourite project in the book! Happy days :)
& Happy Stitching!
Susannah (Peppergoose)
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