Marshland

Sometimes things come easy, but Marshland? Not so much.

Sometimes the knit design process is straightforward. Starting with a concept, we swatch or knit up the prototype and then grade it (that means figuring out directions for 25 or so sizes), knit up the final sample, photograph, test-knit, tech edit, and lay it out. Simple right?

But sometimes it is not very simple at all. The Marshland sweater was a design that required some elbow grease. I swatched and I swatched, changed colours and changed motifs, then swatched again. It was a good lesson in perseverance and try-try-again!

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Next came the colour debate, I had chosen Brooklyn Tweed Shelter for my sweater but should I use Artifact or Button Jar?!

After a couple weeks, I had swatched in the blue/green combination so many times I needed a change! I ran out to my LYS and picked out the yellow/brown/cream palette I used for Jones’ sweater just to break up the monotony! It was as I worked on the kid size that I finally struck upon what I wanted: chunky motifs, strong blocks of colour, and bold shapes. It was perfect.

I graded the yoke design up, cast on Gary’s sweater and I was FINALLY on my way. While we always hope to have our sweater samples bound off well ahead of photoshoot time, I was still working away on the sleeves as we headed out on the Icelandic ring road from Reykjavik!

Marshland Pattern details:

Pattern: Marshland from Strange Brew
The Marshland pattern includes sizes from 0-6 months through Women’s and Men’s sizes up to 4XL (61″ chest). The design is worked in worsted / aran weight yarn, we used Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, a lofty soft woollen-spun yarn that comes in an excellent palette of tweedy colours.  Find all sizing, and yarn details here.

You can also find some really amazing versions on our Pinterest board here: https://pin.it/lr6r5r66nhprxp

Mountaintop Views:

Normally while driving over a mountain pass you can see your path laid out in front of you. There is a space between two mountains through which you might pass, or you can see the line of the road cutting across the slope. One day on our Icelandic journey, as we drove north to Akureyri we headed towards a wall of mountains and all we kept saying to each other was ‘where will we get through?’.

The road had the appearance of heading straight into the mountainside. Finally, as we approached we could see a narrow winding dirt road that led up. It was so faint we couldn’t see it from afar. Up up up we climbed and finally came out on top. We found a stunning vista of lake, snow, the warm dirt and bright green mosses.

The wind that day threatened to blow us over, but we got Gary and Jones sweatered up and these are some of my very favourite shots from the book. Father and son in coordinated sweaters, enjoying the great outdoors.