Wheel of the Year – Granary Knits

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.

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