A Stylish layering Piece
The Designer
Emma Ducher combines a love of fibre and colour with mathematics, weaving these interests together to create a range of textured designs that entice knitters to try new skills with each project.
Emma is an avid knitter herself, setting aside at least two hours each day to create and dream up new designs, each incorporating elements of nature, which is a central theme in Emma’s work. Everyday life also serves as a rich source of inspiration, whether it’s the harmonious colours of the world around her, the intricate patterns she notices on tiles or the street facades she spots. Particularly when it comes to the Art Nouveau period, which feeds her creativity.
Enma’s design process generally starts with inspirational images that resonate with the feel of the design she wants to create. These images fuel a sketching phase, where she allows her creativity to run free. Samples are then knitted to confirm that the chosen yarn, in this case, The Fibre Co.’s Lore, behaves how she wants it to look before calculating the stitch counts for different sizes and transferring her ideas into written patterns.
The Design
The Laguna Veneta Vest design captures the ever-changing border between water and land, the pattern is designed to mirror the traces left by water as it gently recedes from the beach. The aim was to create an easy-to-wear design with an all-over pattern that immerses the knitter in the regular flow of increases and decreases. Emma found that knitting this vest was, in her words, a form of meditation. The soothing and rhythmic patterns that mimic the ripples formed at the water’s edge as it meets the land allowed her to immerse herself in the tranquil and ever-changing landscape of the shoreline.
The Laguna Veneta Vest is worked from the bottom up. The pieces are worked flat to create the rib hem slits, and then in the round to the underarm, where the work is then divided to work the front and back sections.
The eye-catching wavy pattern featured over the vest transitions cleverly from the hem ribbing using a simple combination of knit and purl stitches which is easy to memorise and is offered with both a chart and written instructions.
Short row shaping is incorporated at the shoulders for an improved fit. The sleeves are picked up in the round for knitting a few rounds of ribbing. The ribbed neckline is picked up last.
The vest is an excellent choice for knitters of all skill levels, from advanced beginners to more experienced knitters who will enjoy the repetitive stitch pattern.
Lovely Lore
Sometimes, it’s the yarn itself that serves as the inspiration for Emma’s designs. Lore’s unique texture and the subtle, heathered colours it offers perfectly complement the raw and natural feel that she wanted to achieve.
‘It is the perfect yarn to play with textures and to obtain a light yet enveloping jumper. The tiny touches of irregular colours give the design a raw and natural feel.’ – Emma Ducher
About The Almanac Series III
The Almanac Series is an ongoing collection celebrating each month of the year with a Yarn of the Month. It is based on the original farmer’s Almanac, a nature-inspired guide to the seasons. In our first two Almanacs, we looked to land with our theme of herbalism. Then to the skies, with our theme of astronomy. Now we look to the seas.
Our third Almanac Series is inspired by the oceans to acknowledge the importance of maintaining a balanced and thriving ocean ecosystem. The moodiness of the deep ocean, the chill of polar seas, the patterns and rhythm of winter swells, and the great migrations of sea birds were some of the inspirations behind this Almanac Series.
Knitting the Laguna Veneta Vest?
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