This is perhaps my sweetest make of 2022! It’s called Sweet Talk and features in the Sweet Shop themed issue 4 of Moorit Magazine this Spring and Summer amongst so many other lovely designs that are sure to be a sweet treat for your hooks. Do take a look at Moorit's website to see what tempts you!
I was thrilled when first I heard my design was selected. It's been hard not to share the news especially when the final proofs were sent to me and I saw how lovely the photos by @rscott_shoots were with the fun graffiti on the wall as a perfect backdrop for the colourful designs in this issue.
It always feels special to have a design selected for a magazine but this was particularly so, for several reasons. To start with, this is my first graded garment pattern and garments/wearable items are what I most love to create. I was also able to include three fitting options for each size to suit different figures in the pattern, which was a goal I set for myself on starting to create yarncraft patterns. I started making my own clothes because I was frustrated by finding shop bought items in standard sizes were such a poor fit for my hourglass shape and I know that a lot of other makers have the similar reasons for making their own clothes, so I feel that a handmade item should be quite customisable to help each wearer to get the fit they like. Additionally, Moorit’s editor, Alyson, was the first editor ever to reply to me about a design I'd sent, one that I’d suggested for a previous issue, and although that design wasn’t used for that issue in the end, it helped me feel confident that my designs had potential and to keep sending my designs to publishers and eventually to get offers of work. In fact, another publisher has selected that early design and you should see it come to life this summer.
This project has been so much fun all along, right from coming up with a design for the magazine’s Sweet Shop theme inspired by my favourite crumbly pressed sugar sweets, Love Hearts and Edinburgh Rock, and then developing a pattern to cover three variations of body shape in a wide range of sizes. Crocheting the sample with the lovely soft merino yarn supplied by Bona Yarns, an independent yarn dyer, based quite nearby in south London, who creates amazing colourways on a wonderful range of bases was a real treat and the stitch patterns were very enjoyable to work with the fun of creating a little heart on each contrast colour row proving to be great motivation. I love having a project with a good balance of easy relaxing stages and fun, interesting sections to look forward to. As a new designer, one of the most fascinating parts of the process was working through aspects of the pattern with Moorit’s Technical Editor to ensure the pattern would be accurate, clear, concise and accessible to as many readers as possible. I learnt a lot that has improved my pattern writing skills for future designs.
Pattern: Sweet Talk
Published in: Moorit Magazine Issue 4
Yarn: Bona Yarns Good Fingering 4-ply fingering weight yarn, 100% superwash merino, mulesing free in shades: Starkers, Elspeth, Ginny, Sandy and Helmfried
Photographer: @rscott_shoots
Technical editing: Deb Bramham @findmeknitting
I love to hear from anyone who uses one of my patterns to create a project. Any feedback you give about the pattern will help me develop future patterns that are easy to follow and it’s always exciting to see in-progress or finished projects created using my patterns. Leave me a comment below or get in touch if you have any thoughts about this design.