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Design Secrets with Monica Christine and the Airglow Shawl
The ninth pattern to arrive from The Almanac Series II is the beautifully textured Airglow Shawl design from Monica Christine!
Bookkeeper by day, knitwear designer by night. We chat with designer Monica Christine about her gorgeous Airglow Shawl design and her love for knitting garments and accessories with a focus on texture, cables and twisted stitches.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself: how did you get into knitting and designing knitwear?
“I have always been fascinated by making things with my own hands and I’ve tried many crafts in the past, but my love for knitting stayed. After several failures regarding fit I started to modify patterns to my liking – so designing my own just seemed the natural next step.
I was very lucky to have three of my patterns published in Magazines the first year I started designing, and now I can’t stop thinking of new designs night and day.”
Tell us about the inspiration for the Airglow Shawl.
“The yarn itself inspired this design – I swatched Cumbria Fingering for some other design, but immediately knew this should become a large cozy shawl.
Cumbria Fingering has wonderful drape and is very warm, the finished fabric just wants you to snuggle up into it – living at the coast I could see myself wearing this shawl on my stormy winter walks.“
What makes your design special?
“The Airglow Shawl is worked bottom up – you begin at the wide side and decrease your way to the tip. This way it’s easier to stay motivated as the rows get shorter and the simple decreases make it easy to shape the shawl.
The pattern is a mix of cables and a relaxing knit-purl texture – to me, that’s a good combination to stay interested in knitting the project. But I also find the look it creates suitable for many occasions: I can envision it in Cumbria’s White Heather as a bride’s shawl as well as in a dark moody color like Blackbeck styled over a black Leather Jacket.“
The Airglow Shawl is a generously sized triangular shawl designed by Monica Christine with a border of cables along the bottom edge and side edge of the shawl, and a richly textured knit and purl stitch pattern in the main body.
Airglow is a richly textured, cosy shawl with horizontal and vertical cable-panels and a relaxing knit-purl-texture in between. It’s knitted flat from the bottom up: you start on the wide side and decrease your way to the tip. This way, the horizontal cable-panel and the longer rows are done at the beginning, and the rows become shorter and quicker as the shawl grows. Its asymmetrical triangle shape is achieved by working simple decreases at the end of each RS row.
About The Almanac Series
The Almanac Series is based on the original farmer’s Almanac guide to the seasons, this collection acts as a seasonal guide to knitting with The Fibre Co. and celebrates each month of the year with an ascribed Yarn of the Month, paired with a new design launch in that yarn. For this year’s series, we looked to the heavens for inspiration, letting the beauty and grandeur of the night sky guide us. In the first half of this year’s series, we cover the Autumn Winter season, where each month’s yarn has been specifically chosen for its qualities to complement colder conditions in the northern hemisphere. Erika Knight’s Zodiac Sweater was the first design in The Almanac Series II collection, in which you can read our interview with Erika here.
What inspires and influences your designs?
“Sometimes inspiration strikes when coming across something beautiful in nature like roots or interesting forms in architecture. Generally, I’m inspired by old Traditional Knits like Fishermen’s Sweaters with complex stitch patterns.“
What is your favourite type of knitting project?
“Something with an interesting texture that needs my full attention combined with relaxing parts I can zone out with. I do need some kind of challenge – a whole project in Stockinette would make me feel bored very fast.“
Could you share your design process with us.
“I start with sketching and sometimes make a mood board with the textures I’m thinking of. After deciding on a stitch pattern I swatch to see if it looks the way I imagined it. After some calculations, I write up a pattern draft and start working the sample. Grading comes last.“
How does the yarn influence your design?
“A lot! As my designs are texture and cable-intense yarn-choice is so important. You have to be sure the yarn has a good stitch definition or all the effort working e.g. 50 hours of cables was a waste of time. Stitch definition, drape, bounce are all very important considerations.“
What is your favourite knitting technique and why?
“Cabling without a cable needle – once learned, you’ll never look back! And I have a sweet spot for immaculate Cast-on and Cast-offs like the Tubular or Rib Cable Cast-on Method.“
What is your desert island knitting project?
“Really tough to decide: a pullover/cardigan with lots of texture and cables. I never get tired of that. Or a large wrap for maximum comfort.“
What’s your first knitting memory?
“I learned to knit and crochet in Elementary School, but the first knitting project I remember was a cream-colored Aran-jumper with lots of cables that I knit for myself at 13 or 14 years old.“
Knitting the Airglow Shawl?
If you are knitting the Airglow Shawl, please do share it with us!
We would love to see it. If you are sharing on social media, please use the hashtags #MadeWithTheFibreCo and tag us @thefibrecompany so we don’t miss it. You can also follow us on social media by clicking the icons below.
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