Let's Knit Cover!

Yesterday I had a lovely surprise. The May issue of Let's Knit, which is in the shops from today, arrived and one of my designs made the cover. That made me very happy.

 'Serena' is knitted in King Cole Bamboo Cotton. I saw a ball in a tangerine colour at Spin A Yarn just a few days after reading that tangerine would be the hot colour of the summer. I must admit it's not my colour but I bought it. The yarn felt lovely too. I swatched and sent my idea off to Let's Knit Editor, Sarah, who accepted it and even wanted to use the same colour. A big thank you to Sarah for knitting up the sample. This is the perfect summer cardigan and will look great with jeans, skirts and summer dresses. If tangerine isn't your colour there are lots of other fab colours in this range.

My second design in this issue is Bluebelle which is knitted in one of my favourite sweater yarn, Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend. Thank you to Pixie for knitting this sample for me. The sweater has a 'bluebell' lace pattern on the body and bottom of the sleeves and stocking stitch on the upper body and sleeves. It'll be the perfect year round sweater. I'd love to knit one for myself, if only I had time.

I've blocked my Quince & Co Finch shawl, which I knitted on holiday. I was worried about how it would block. I should have added another increase row when I started the green section but that meant I wouldn't have enough yarn, so I chanced it and it worked.

The shawl is hanging on my dress form now. I need to organise a photo shoot. I'd love to ask my regular model, Sarah, but she's getting married next weekend and is then moving away and I kind of feel guilty asking her to model for me the week before her wedding. After the wedding she's moving so won't be able to model for me again. Which means I'm looking for a new regular model. My daughters model for me at times but neither of them particularly enjoy it and if I've got several designs to do, it's too much hassle.

I'll leave you with a few sneak peeks of this new shawl. The pattern won't be published quite yet as this pattern is part of a new lace collection I'm working on. There'll be 3 or 4 designs in this new collection and I'm hoping to publish it in June.

Have a lovely weekend x