Granary Knits – Knitting My Landscape

31 October 202431 October 2024

The Wheel of the Year

The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year’s chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. The Wheel of the Year was devised in the mid-20th century to combine the four solar events or quarter days marked by many European peoples, with the four seasonal festivals or cross-quarter days celebrated by Celtic peoples of the British Isles. Different paths of modern Paganism may vary regarding the precise timing of each celebration, based on such distinctions as the lunar phase and geographic hemisphere.

Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html, via Wikimedia Commons

Observing the cycle of the seasons has been important to many people, both ancient and modern. Modern pagan festivals that rely on the Wheel are based to varying degrees on folk traditions, regardless of actual historical pagan practices. Some Wiccans use the term sabbat to refer to each festival.

In many traditions of modern paganism all things are considered to be cyclical, with time as a perpetual cycle of growth and retreat tied to the Sun’s annual death and rebirth. The days that fall on the landmarks of the yearly cycle traditionally mark the beginnings and middles of the four seasons. These eight festivals are the most significant times for community celebrations.

I was inspired to design this series of accessories, in part, by my close proximity to the seasonal cycles of growth (germinating seeds, growing fruit and vegetables, living in a sustainable way) and decay (composting, regrowth). I live a fairly agrarian existence, in the countryside away from urban populations, and I feel the turning of the year keenly.

The designs for this series of shawl and cowl patterns are inspired by the eight Wiccan / Pagan festivals or Sabbats, celebrated at key points in the calendar, plus a ninth design encompassing the whole cycle. I am not a follower of the religious practices but find that the festivals marked in the calendar resonate with me and my connection to the Earth and the landscape in which I live.

The Cycle begins with Samhain, the end of Autumn and the beginning of Winter in the northern hemisphere.

Wheel Image courtesy of CarlCastel, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Samhain

The celebration of Autumn’s end. The veil between the worlds is thin at this time, the year is dying.

Samhain (/ˈsɑːwɪn/) is the name of a traditional Gaelic festival held around 1 November. The name and date were adopted by Wiccans for one of their four Greater Sabbats. It closely matches Halloween (31 October) and the two festivals are intertwined. For Wiccans, Samhain is a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have died. Aligned with the contemporary observance of Halloween and Day of the Dead, in some traditions the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the Wheel by the festival of Beltane, which is celebrated as a festival of light and fertility. Many neopagans believe that the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest point of the year at Samhain, making it easier to communicate with those who have departed.

Some authorities claim the Christian festival of All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) and the preceding evening are appropriations of Samhain by early Christian missionaries to the British Isles.

The Design

My interpretation of Samhain is of simplicity. It can be made as a cowl, using a single precious skein of 4ply/fingering yarn, or as a shawl. It can be knit in any weight of yarn, and can be made as long as you wish. As befits the time of the year, it gives warmth where it is needed. I chose reds and oranges for my samples, as well as a light grey reminiscent of misty autumn days.

More information on the pattern and links to Ravelry and Payhip stores can be found on the pattern page. The pattern was published on 31st October 2024.

The next pattern will be Yule, published on 21st December 2024.

31 October 202431 October 2024

Samhain

Samhain (pronounced Sa-win, /ˈsɑːwɪn/) is the first of the Celtic/Pagan Sabbats or festivals in the great Wheel of the Year, ever turning. It is the celebration of Autumn’s End occurring on 31 October/1 November. The veil between the worlds is thin at this time, the year is dying.

Samhain is the name of a traditional Gaelic festival held around 1 November. The name and date were adopted by Wiccans for one of their four Greater Sabbats. It closely matches Halloween (31 October) and the two festivals are intertwined. For Wiccans, Samhain is a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have died. Aligned with the contemporary observance of Halloween and Day of the Dead, in some traditions the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the Wheel by the festival of Beltane, which is celebrated as a festival of light and fertility.

Samhain is a time for bonfires, honouring the ancestors, and for contemplation when entering the quiet part of the year. A time when the earth sleeps and humans (and animals) need warmth and shelter. A snug triangular shawl or cowl will keep you warm until the year turns and the earth awakens.

It can be knit in any weight yarn, in any type of yarn, in one colour or two. It is a warm double-thickness fabric using an interesting construction, with a simple but effective shape.

Samhain is available as a pdf download from the Granary Knits Ravelry store and from the Payhip store.

17 October 202417 October 2024

Weeds 5: Thistle

This tam pattern is the fifth in a series inspired by the wild flowers commonly referred to as weeds. It features a design based upon the leaves, flowers and seeds of the common thistle. Seen in country verges and on wastelands all over the UK during the summer, thistles add a rich purple to their environment; their nectar feeds bees and butterflies, and their seeds contribute to feeding goldfinches in the autumn.

I have drawn inspiration from the prickly leaves, individual seeds with their tuft of white fluff, and the checker board pattern of the flower heads. Instructions are given for four sizes, small, medium narrow, medium wide, or large. The narrow and wide sizes refer to how full the tam part of the hat is. This tam is roomy and warm.

This pattern features Swiss Darning, aka Duplicate Stitch, to achieve the fluffy seed motifs.

Suggested yarns are: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift; 4ply; 100% wool; 116 m/ 127 yds per 25 g ball. The sample shown used 2 balls of 274 Green Mist, and less than 1 ball each of 165 Dusk, 617 Lavender, and 567 Damask.
Rowan Kidsilk Haze: lace/2ply; 70% kid mohair, 30% silk; 210 m / 230 yds per 25g / 0.88 oz ball; approx. 30 m / 33 yds in white.

Tools required: A circular needle, 40 cm / 16” (or longer if using magic loop), or a set of dpns, in the following sizes:
2.75 mm [UK/Can size 12, US size 2].
3.25 mm [UK/Can size 10, US size 3].
Stitch markers, at least 1.
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends and Swiss darning.
26 cm/10” or 28 cm / 11” plate for blocking, depending upon the size of hat (optional but highly recommended).
This pattern has been tech edited, but not test knit except by me.

All five of the patterns in the Weeds Collection are available from both Ravelry and Payhip. Other patterns in this collection: Shepherd’s Purse, Teasel, Poppy, Wild Oats

20 September 202420 September 2024

Annat Royd Shawl

Annat Royd is the third in my Yorkshire Collection of shawls and related accessories. It is a huge hug of a shawl, based on the triangular shape and knit in 4ply/fingering yarn. I chose two lovely non-superwash woolly yarns for my samples.

**Annat Royd 2-triangle shawl in Birlinn Haar**

The first is a straightforward triangular shawl knit in Birlinn 4ply 100% wool yarn, from the beautiful island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. It is a robust yarn which is a joy to knit with; it gives great stitch definition, essential for all-over lace patterns such as Annat Royd. I chose the colour Haar, a pale grey flecked with darker strands, perfectly named for the sea mist rolling in from the Atlantic.

The second sample is a three-triangle shawl, which has a square profile. For this shawl, I chose the beautiful Doulton Border Leicester 100% Border Leicester 4ply yarn in the rich purple colourway, Hawnby Hill. I love this yarn, not only for its lovely stitch definition, but because the flock has a no-kill policy, meaning the sheep get to grow old and live out their lives on the farm. This is a shawl to snuggle up with on a cold winter’s evening.

**3-triangle shawl in Doulton Border Leicester Hawnby Hill**

The downloadable pdf pattern for Annat Royd is available from both Ravelry and the Granary Knits Payhip Store.

17 September 202417 September 2024

Intarsia: twisting the colours

Intarsia is a visually striking knitted fabric, with large blocks of colour or complex patterns not possible using stranded methods. Intarsia pattern instructions usually tell the knitter to twist the colours together, but don’t really specify how to do this to achieve a neat effect. I have found that just holding the two yarns in a particular way allows them to naturally lock together forming a line on the reverse of the fabric, without bumps or exaggerated twists. This is intuitive and quickly becomes a natural way of working.

**The join between two colours shown on the reverse**

This is how I do it.

Stocking Stitch Colour Joining

**Work to the point at which the colours are to be joined, in this case, the join is a straight line**

**Hold the yarn you have been working with out of the way, and bring the new colour under the old. Here, the old colour is green (on the left) and the new colour is orange (on the right).**

**The view at the back of the work, old colour above, new colour coming from the right and below.**

**Start working with the new colour (orange).**

**Having purled back to the point of the join, this is what it looks like**

**After a few rows, the back of the piece shows the neat pattern of the join**

Garter Colour Join

The method here is the same as for stocking stitch at the front of the work, but for the back of the piece it is a little more complicated.

**The back of the piece, the orange has been kit to the join, the orange yarn is still at the front of the piece**

**Bring the “old” working yarn through the gap to the back of the piece; “new” working yarn is the green below the orange**

**Holding the old orange to the left, bring the new green under and up**

**Pass the new green to the front of the piece over the old orange and adjust tension**

**The view of the back, showing the pattern for both stocking stitch joins and garter stitch joins are the same**

3 September 2024

Making Knots

Knots and bobbles add texture and interest to knitted garments and accessories, but there is no denying the fact that making them interrupts the flow of knitting. Bobbles, with their multi-row construction, can be such a distraction that people avoid adding them, which is a shame as they do look fabulous particularly tucked in amidst cables and other textured stitches. I find knots, however, are much easier to knit and look just as effective as bobbles, whilst taking less time to make and cause less disruption to the flow of knitting.

Knots can be made in any size, just use an odd number of stitches – 3 for small, 5 for medium, 7 for enormous (depending upon your yarn weight). They can be placed in the body of a garment or used as a type of picot along a cast off edge to add stretch and interest. Here I describe how I make the small cast off variety, followed by the larger surface detail knots. The basic principal is the same for any size of knot, edge or body.

Small Knots on a Cast Off Edge

**Cast off up to the point where the small knot will be made, marked with a calabash pin. The cast off stitch on the RH needle, here, waits its turn.**

**Purl, knit, purl into the marked stitch (you could used k, p, k depending on the pattern, but purl first and last helps the knot to “sit” on the RS surface)**

**Reading from the left, pass the 2nd stitch on the RH needle over the 1st**

**Pass the cast off stitch over the remaining knot stitch**

**The completed small edge knot, with the cast off stitches tucked behind it to enhance its prominence**

**The completed edge showing a small 3-stitch knot in the centre of the curved edge, flanked by two 5-stitch knots**

**Close-up of the small 3-stitch knot, an unobtrusive but neat detail on the edge of a cape**

Large Knots as Surface Detail

Large knots add texture and interest on the surface of a garment, and I find they are easier to make than bobbles.

At the point where the knot is to be made, (**purl, knit, purl, knit, purl) into the stitch designated (you could used (k, p, k, p, k) depending on the pattern, but purl first and last helps the knot to “sit” on the RS surface)**. Here I am working into a slipped knit stitch.

**A clearer view of the five stitches in one**

**Pass the 5th and last stitch over the 1st**

**The completed knot after working a few more rows/rounds of the fabric**

The samples shown here are of the Yule cape, second in the Wheel of the Year collection of shawls and accessories. The pattern will be published in December 2024.

22 August 202422 August 2024

Samhain Increases

In the Samhain shawl/cowl pattern, two variations of the lifted increase are used to achieve invisible shaping. Normally, lifted increases are designated either left- or right-leaning; but in Samhain I have chosen a slightly different approach, and this is fully described in the pattern itself. The photo tutorial here is in support of the pattern and is not a substitute for the detailed description given in the pattern. I have named the two increases as m1k and m1p; both are shown here.

M1K

**I have reached the increase marker for the i-cord edge, the last stitch I worked was a slip stitch**

**Lift the purl bump of the i-cord edge stitch with RH needle**

**Place the stitch untwisted onto the LH needle**

**Knit into the purl bump through the back loop**

M1P

**I have reached my increase marker, this time, the last stitch worked was a knit stitch**

**Place the stitch onto the LH needle without twisting**

**Purl the stitch through the back loop**

22 August 20249 October 2024

I-Cord Cast Off

I-cord makes a stretchy and effective edging to a shawl, especially when it carries on from an i-cord edge along one side of said shawl. I use this bind off in my Samhain shawl/cowl, and I like the way it curves around to blunt and shape the corner of the shawl. Samhain is a double-layered accessory and for the cast off, in order to avoid flaring, the two layers are treated as one.

This is how it is worked

**Knit the first two i-cord edge stitches, slip the third i-cord edge stitch knitwise**

**The three i-cord edge stitches are now on the RH needle. The next stitch is a knit, so I will slip that also knitwise.**

**The third i-cord edge stitch and the first (knit) stitch have been knitted together through the back loop – a standard ssk**

**Pass the three stitches from RH to LH needle without twisting them**

**Knit the first two i-cord edge stitches again, slip the third knitwise, then treating the next two stitches as one unit, slip them also knitwise**

**Knit the three slipped stitches together through the back loop**

**The three stitches on the RH needle are now the i-cord cast off, and the curve of the corner is already evident**

**Pass the three i-cord stitches back to the LH needle**

**A few more stitches cast off and the corner has taken shape with a smooth curve**

**The end of the i-cord, the yarn has been broken and threaded through the last stitches**

At the end of the i-cord, break the yarn, secure the last stitch, and thread a darning needle. Work a mock knit stitch over the corner and weave the end in to the i-cord and between the layers of the fabric.

20 January 202420 January 2024

The Yorkshire Collection

For over a year now, I have been working on a collection of shawls and related accessories inspired by the Yorkshire countryside in which I live. It has been a magical experience, exploring my surroundings and being enthused by the landscape. The first two shawls in this collection, Harden Moss and Whitley Common, are available now, with more to come.

Harden Moss was inspired by the shapes of reservoirs in the High Peak District of Derbyshire and West Yorkshire. These typically have a distinct wide dam wall at one end gradually narrowing to a point, reflecting the shape of the valley that was flooded to create them. There are many such reservoirs dotted about all over the Peak District, varying in size from a small tarn to an entire rift such as Longdendale, flooded to provide water to local communities. This simple scrunchy garter shawl, worked sideways in a hazy laceweight yarn on very large needles, is quick to work, and the allover pattern of eyelets is easy to memorise. The pattern is available in the Granary Knits Payhip store and on Ravelry.

Whitley Common is a light capelet perfect for a summer wedding shawl. It’s shape is three-quarters-pi, and is covered in a graduated pattern of zigzags which mimics the many becks, streams, and rivulets that cover the heathery landscape. These lacy rivulets culminate in a border of flower motifs to represent the beautiful cotton grass that covers the common in summer. The pattern is available in the Granary Knits Payhip store and on Ravelry.

19 December 202316 January 2024

Two Free Patterns: Mittens and a Beanie

Today I have published two new free patterns. They are part of my ongoing quest to find useful things to knit from leftover sock yarn. Both can be knit in plain, self-patterning or self-striping yarns, or you can create your own unique stripes from scraps or mini-skein sets.

Fingerless Sock Yarn Mittens

These full mittens can be made in any sock yarn, leftover scraps are ideal for striping or colour blocking. It is written to fit child (8-12yrs) (teen, small adult, medium adult). Finished sizes (palm circumference) 16 (19, 21, 23.5) cm / 6½” (7 ½”, 8 ½”, 9 ½”). The samples shown are all sized for a teen/small adult. The pattern can be easily adapted to fit larger hands.

The mittens are knitted finger-tip to cuff on circular needles/DPNs, and feature a gusseted thumb and a ribbed cuff.

The samples shown were knit in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply: Fingering/4ply; 400 m / 460 yds in 100 g / 3.53 oz; shown in Zara’s Rainbow (stripes) and Woodland Awakening (variegated); and in Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock; Fingering/4ply; 400 m / 460 yds in 100 g / 3.53 oz; shown in Coachella.

The pattern features lots of ideas for you to create unique mittens. It has been tech edited but not test knit, except by me.

The pattern is free to download from the Granary Knits Ravelry Store, and also free (with the option to pay a little if you want) from the Granary Knits Payhip Store.

Sock Yarn Beanie

This beanie can be made in any size, from newborn to adult, and is knit in the round from the crown down to the brim. There are two options for the crown: knotted I-cord or a plain flat circle; and two options for the brim, either rolled or ribbed.

The samples shown were knit in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply shown in Zara’s Rainbow (stripes); Regia 4-fadig in a discontinued self-patterning shade; A Little Bit Sheepish graduated hand-dyed mini-skein set in shades of purple.

Sizes given are for Newborn, 6 mths, Toddler/Child, Teen, Adult, Large Adult (head circumference 35 cm / 14”, 40 cm / 16”, 44.5 cm / 18”, 52 cm / 20 ¾”, 54 cm / 21 ½”, 59 cm / 22 ½”.

The pattern features lots of ideas for you to create unique beanies. It has been tech edited but not test knit, except by me.

The pattern is free to download from the Granary Knits Ravelry Store, and also free (with the option to pay a little if you want) from the Granary Knits Payhip Store.