Yorkshire Rose Corsages

August the first is Yorkshire day, a day to celebrate all things Yorkshire. This year I wanted to add a traditional Yorkshire White Rose to my outfit.

The white rose is a heraldic rose traditionally from the House of York, but has since been adopted by Yorkshire and features on the Yorkshire flag. White roses can be found all over Yorkshire from the boundary markers to on houses and even shopping centres.

The rose traditionally has concentric rows of five white petals and a yellow centre.

I designed this crochet White Rose to celebrate Yorkshire day and the culture and wonderfulness that is Yorkshire. It has three rows of 5 white petals and a yellow button centre. It sits neatly on a rose leaf that forms the back to which you can sew a brooch back to pin to clothes or sew onto bags or hats. I shall be wearing my Yorkshire White Rose with pride on friday as I say Ey Up! to everyone I pass.

White roses are something I have enjoyed crafting the last few weeks. I have also designed this Garden Rose Corsage that has an elegant appeal with its pearl button centre and dainty overlapping petals. I love how pretty it looks on my coat. It has a flat centre that perfectly takes a pretty button, then petals that wrap round in increasing size to form the flower. The leaf is the same as the Yorkshire White Rose and again forms a backing for a brooch back to sit on. It looks fabulous on a dress or coat lapel.

Both patterns have written and charted instructions and are available now. They will both be half price on August the first to celebrate Yorkshire day with the code YORKSHIREDAY - when checking out the patterns add the code before paying to get 50% off.

As you can see, I have made quite a few!

Goodbye talented friend

Yesterday I had the very sad task of saying goodbye to one of my friends.  Chris, my photographer and friend died from lung cancer at a far too young age.  Chris was kind, generous and extremely talented.  He will be missed by many, as evidence by the number of people who attended his funeral yesterday.  His funeral was filled with love and happy memories as well as sadness at saying goodbye. I first met Chris through his wife Sharon. When I moved to the local area, the knitting group that meets in the local pub was one of my first ventures into the village.  Sharon and the other knitters/crocheters made me feel very welcome and it is such a friendly group.  It was Chris who suggested that Sharon set up a local knitting group and I am so grateful that he did.

When I started designing, I knew I had to ask Chris to be my photographer.  Chris ran his photography business from the village and I loved walking past his studio window.  It always contained beautiful photographs that not only looked stunning, but captured peoples personalities too.  He had an amazing way of getting people to relax in front of the camera, something many people (including me!) struggle to do.

Chris did a photoshoot for me in 2012.  It was meant to be spring, however that did not stop the snow from falling!  I managed to capture this shot of him in action photographing Suzi modelling my Bela Cowl pattern. What really amazed me on the day was Chris's eye for a good backdrop for each photo.  My favourite photo from the shoot is this one for my Kali pattern. I have walked past this rusty green fence but I never would have considered it for a background to a knitting photo. Yet, it sets off the colours and patterns in Kali perfectly and received a lot of positive attention.

This photo of Crowberry is also one of my favourites.  Crowberry is my best selling pattern and I'm sure this beautiful photo is one of the reasons. Chris even managed to fit a final photo shoot for a new sample of Kali that also featured on Knitty.com whilst undergoing chemotherapy.  Sharon, his wife, kindly knitted and modeled the sample for me and Chris took some fantastic photos whilst unwell and for which I am extremely grateful.  You wouldn't believe this was taken over Christmas, they both did a fantastic job making the photo look summery. I have lots of fantastic photos to show from Chris as several of the patterns photographed I have not released yet but plan to do so over the next year, including this slouchy hat design that has not got a name yet.  I look forward to sharing them with you soon. I am pleased that despite Chris no longer being around, his talent and photos remain and will still be showcased for years to come.  Thank you Chris for the wonderful photos but also for being a wonderful friend.  I will miss the raised eyebrows at the amount of new yarn purchased on field trips with Sharon and the gentle teasing on how small my needles are and what I plan to make (or get Sharon to make) with them.

Rest in peace xxx

Chris and Sharon

Handlebar Hands & Cadence Cowl

Today marks a very special day - 100 days to go until the Tour de France comes to Yorkshire! I'm very excited as the cycle race will pass very close to where I live and I plan to go to Huddersfield to watch the race come through.

It seems the perfect timing to introduce my two new crochet patterns - Handlebar Hands and Cadence Cowl. Both of these patterns have a cycling theme and were inspired into being after the release of my Helmet Head pattern in the Bespoke book - a whole book of cycling related designs inspired by the Tour de Yorkshire as it is locally known.

I love matching sets and found Helmet Head really fun to crochet so I just had to design a matching cowl and mitten set. All three of these designs are suitable for beginner crocheters as they use only a few stitches and have very little shaping involved. I'm just in love with the striping pattern and especially in these bright colours of Rowan Tweed that are all named after local places. Great to brighten up my outfits as spring arrives!

Cadence cowl is crocheted in the round and it can be made shorter or longer, or wider or thinner as required by adding or subtracting rows  or stitches from the pattern. I like it at this length though as it can be comfortably wrapped around the neck twice as a very warm cowl or to keep it out of the way whilst cycling, or draped long and loose as an infinity scarf.

The Handlebar Hands can be made as fingerless mitts or full mittens and instructions are included for both. They come in three sizes to fit small, medium or large hands. They are unisex, just like Helmet Head and can be made more 'manly' by changing the colours of the yarn. I like the fingerless ones best for cycling with as I can use my fingers to ring the bell on my bike, but having a full mitten is great in cold weather.

The photos were taken by my dad and my sister kindly modelled for the photos. We had great fun on the photo shoot although it nearly was a disaster. I've learnt that you should not ask models to cycle alongside a canal without their glasses on. Disaster was narrowly diverted by catching Lucy before she fell into the water! She has forgiven me (I think).

Both patterns are available in my Ravelry shop and on this website. For the next 100 days both patterns are available for 50% off their normal price to celebrate le Tour Yorkshire. Use the code LETOURYORKSHIRE to activate this offer when paying!

Helmet Head in Bespoke

This week I received my copy of Bespoke - a beautiful book of knitting and crochet patterns inspired by all things bicycle.

What I am the most excited about though is seeing my first book published pattern - Helmet Head!

This is a simple slouchy beanie that is crocheted from 3 different colours of DK weight yarn to produce a kaleidoscope of colours. It is easy enough for beginner crocheters to tackle and looks great with a variety of hairstyles.

This hat was born the problem I always seem to have after I have been cycling - bike helmet hair! I wear a helmet as I have seen so many cyclist lives saved by wearing one when I worked in A&E. They really do prevent broken skulls. The trouble is, once I have taken off my helmet, I then have horrible hair for the rest of the day. This simple beanie fits in my pocket and can be taken out and worn to cover up my helmet head.

It looks so fab, I have been wearing it out and about before sending it off to be included in Bespoke.

It also goes really well with Woodrup - the gorgeous cardigan modelled here with my Helmet Head.

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Bespoke features 10 patterns in total and is inspired by the tour de France coming to Yorkshire this year. Woodrup is a colourwork yoke cardigan designed by Ann Kingstone with really cute applied i-cord edgings. Then there is Picycle, a circular lace shawl by Karina Westermann which looks beautifully soft. Malliot jaune is a jumper that is sized to fit children, women and men by Alison Moreton. Hercules is a men's jumper by Sarah Hatton that has a wonderful cable pattern reminiscent of tyre tracks, a Courier felted messenger bag by Jo Spreckley and Frame Mitts by Rachel Coopley which manage to look snug and pretty at the same time. For those with kids there are the Chop Chop handlebar streamers by Verity Britton (or big kids like me that really want to make these for my bike!). The crochet patterns include Peachy, a bike seat cover by Ruby McGrath, Wickerton, a cute stripy bicycle basket with a pretty flower by Julie Glaze and my Helmet Head.

Bespoke is a really fun collection of patterns and it is hard to know what to make first! So if you love your bike or know someone who does, or just love cute and pretty accessories, it is well worth a look. I'm really excited about the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire and plan to wear a few of these designs when I go to watch the race pass through my area.

I will be releasing matching mittens and cowl for Helmet Head soon so you can have a matching set (I love having matching accessories). Helmet Head is only available in Bespoke which can be purchased from Baa Ram Ewe.