Creative Journey: The story of Ridgeback
And why when you can't think straight, a knitting project is the answer
As a designer I have notebooks full of sketches, ideas, stitch patterns and texture ideas. I’m always adding to them when inspiration strikes, but I know that it’s not always the right time to start working on them. Sometimes a design idea strikes me and I work on it straight away, but once a month, I always sit down with a cup of tea and go through my notebooks to see which of my ideas feel like they should be promoted from the notebook to the design book. And then the real fun begins!
But last year was strange because for about four months from June to the beginning of October, I didn’t have a clue what was going on. As it started to become apparent that my Mum was unwell, my usual business routine went out the window. And by mid August…well, everything went out the window! Immediately after my Mum passed away, I began working on a design that will become my Lady Thistledown pattern, but during the time between returning home and then going back for her funeral, I couldn’t work on that any more. I needed a project to work on, but I couldn’t think straight. I mean, I started watching The Walking Dead from the very beginning and I even considered buying a pattern and just knitting!
But as I was transferring my design notes for Lady Thistledown from scraps of paper to my design book, I decided to give my notebooks a quick perusal to see if something jumped out at me. All I knew was that I wasn’t looking for anything complicated and I wasn’t looking for anything that needed multiple skeins. After all, I knew I’d be sat on a train quite a bit! That was when I saw a sketch that I’d done about 18 months before! And this sketch became my upcoming pattern: Ridgeback…although it was nameless at this point!
Now whilst the pattern itself is super easy and the design process should also have been easy, with my head all over the place, it took far longer than it normally would to work out the logistics for this pattern.
There were three things in this design that I really liked: tapered ends, a ridged panel and a neat edge. Nothing difficult there! But I cannot tell you how much frogging went on until I was happy enough (i.e. not messing things up!) to start knitting an actual sample. And I started the sample using King of Coins, one of my Yarn Reclamation Project yarns by Yarn Whisperer, the day before my I travelled to my Mum’s funeral.
Of course as is often the way, the first sample is not the last sample and in the end this sample ended up in my wardrobe! But this sample did serve a purpose. It was simple enough to work on without the need to think too much, but also had enough little details to keep my mind focused. And at the time, I needed a project like this to give me a little respite from the utter rubbishness of the situation.
I did make a few adjustments to the initial pattern and was then ready to cast on the revised sample using another yarn from my Yarn Reclamation Project: The Sun, again by Yarn Whisperer. Now, if you’ve been following along, you’ll know that the main project that I used the reclaimed The Sun for: Big Drop didn’t go as planned. And you can read about that here. But I still had a skeins worth of this yarn left over and I knew it would be perfect for this new pattern sample. And as you can see it was!
Now, what can I tell you about this pattern? From a knitting perspective…because we might love the finished object, but we also love the journey too…this is a simple, fun and relaxing pattern to knit. You have tapered ends which require increases and decreases, you have a neat, integrated iCord edge (no picking up stitches here!) and you’ve got stocking stitch and a central pattern of broken rib. It’s the perfect project for beginners and it’s got enough to keep the more experienced knitter on their toes.
It’s also an amazing project for popping into your project bag and taking with you when you’re away from home. This 4ply one skein wonder is knits up beautifully whether you’re in your favourite cafe, waiting for an appointment, sat in the park, on a train or if you’re away on holiday.
For all it’s simplicity as a knitting project, what you end up with is a really great looking (from both the front and the back!), versatile accessory that can not only be styled to suit you and your outfit, but also the season. Being a 4ply knit means it can be styled to be cool enough in the summer and warm enough from autumn through to spring. It’s also easy to customise if you want to make it thinner or if you want to use the pattern as a guide you can make even wider and longer (but of course it won’t be a one skein wonder if you make it bigger!)
It’s all these elements combined that make this pattern a must have in not only your collection, but in your wardrobe too! And from 8pm on June 28th, Ridgeback will be available in my Ravelry and Payhip pattern stores at an introductory price of £ 4 until July 31st.
I really hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I do. It’s great fun and just in case you were wondering about the pattern’s name…well, the centre or spine of the scarf is full of ridges so it would safe to assume that was how it got its name. Except that’s not quite it. I had a plethora of names lined up for this beauty, but whilst I was curled up with Willow watching the world famous dog show Crufts, a gorgeous Rhodesian Ridgeback entered the show ring. And that was that!
Until next time…