Spring colours and inspiration

April 27, 2021 | Verily Knits

Way back in March 2020 when I decided to create an ebook of knitting patterns inspired by the changing seasons here in the UK the first thing I started thinking about was the colours associated with each season. I wanted each pattern to reflect the month that it was inspired by in every way from texture, to motifs and also colour.

When you think of spring the colour that instantly comes to mind is bright green, the colour of new leaves and plant shoots and that colour and those images are what inspired April’s pattern Verdant Echo (shown above).

But on the walks around my local area I realised that spring also included a lot of greys and browns; here in the UK March to May can often be more damp, overcast and muddy than green.

So I decided that mud would be the focus for March; soil isn’t always the most inspiring subject but I realised that all of the empty fields were and that is where the inspiration for Fallowed (below) came from.

And for May…. well the weather forecast for next week is for rain which is very fitting for the next pattern in this series as this pattern is inspired by all of the new growth that happens in spring and the rain that is needed for that growth. The weather may be overcast but the patterns it inspires can be beautiful.

If you would like to get this ebook of patterns you can find the details here (ravelry link). The ebook, called The Changing Seasons is a collection of 12 patterns with a new pattern being released in the first week of every month until February 2021.

Introducing Ultra Violets

March 29, 2021 | Verily Knits

I love mosaic knitting, creating patterns using only knit and slipped stitches is a wonderful challenge that I really enjoy.

This shawl pattern was inspired by the yarn; the colours were chosen by my boys, and to be honest they are colours I probably wouldn’t have chosen myself. But the eye-searingly bright neon yellow just needed a big bold pattern to show it off, and that’s how Ultra Violets was born.

This shawl is knit sideways from one corner, this means that you can continue repeating the flower pattern for as long as you like to get a shawl that is the perfect size for you. My version is measures 62″ a long the top edge and 26″ at the deepest point.

There is an introductory discount on this pattern available until the end of Monday 5th April, you can find all the details and purchase the pattern on Ravelry here or Payhip here.

It’s been a while…..

March 24, 2021 | Verily Knits

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks completely overhauling the Verily Knits website, it has been rather neglected for the past few years, but now it has a shiny new look and a new web address verilyknits.com

Going forward all new patterns will be added here and include links to both Ravelry, Payhip and sometimes also LoveCrafts and KnitPicks for where to purchase the pattern.

You can find all Verily Knits patterns on Ravelry here, on LoveCrafts here, patterns are also currently being added to Payhip here, and those patterns using Knit Picks yarns you can find here.

As well as adding all new patterns here I hope to also give some insight into my design process and inspiration, for now if you’d like to see what I am working on you come and say hi on instagram @verilyknits

An alternative to P2tog tbl

August 11, 2018 | Verily Knits

Sometimes you need to work directional decreases on both sides of your knitting and this often involves P2tog through the back of the loops which is a rather awkward stitch to work. So let me guide you through an alternative way to work this stitch which I think is much easier on the hands and the final stitch looks exactly the same as a P2togtbl but requires less acrobatic hand maneuvers. There is also a video right at the very end of this post.

Step 1: insert your right hand needle into the next 2 stitches just as you would when doing a P2tog

slide these 2 stitches on to the right hand needle.
Step 2: bring the left needle up and under these two stitches and slide them back on to the left needle

the stitches have now been twisted:

Step 3: Now purl these 2 stitches together just as your would a regular P2tog

As you can see on the right side you now have a left leaning decrease that looks just the same as P2togtbl:

You can also view this tutorial on YouTube:

Want a free pattern?

July 24, 2018July 21, 2018 | Verily Knits

Did you know I have a newsletter? The Verily Claire newsletter goes out once a month (occasionally twice a month) and it includes info about new pattern releases, what I’m currently working on and always a subscriber exclusive offer. The exclusive offer is usually a heavily discounted pattern, a free pattern or an offer from a third party.

This month’s newsletter went out on the 21st and the subscriber offer was to get this Iterum Blanket pattern for free. You still have the chance to get this pattern completely free, just sign up for my newsletter before the end of August.

Too hot to knit?

July 21, 2018 | Verily Knits

Here in the UK we are in the middle of a heatwave, it has been HOT, and us Brits really are not used to weather like this! I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s never too hot to knit, but I’m not sure that the big bulky jumper that I’m currently working on is the best choice of project for this weather.

Laceweight projects definitely have to be a better choice, right?

This is my latest new pattern the Cymopoleia Shawl which is available exclusively from Knit Picks, its a large circular shawl knit in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, which is a wonderfully soft laceweight yarn. This is an intermediate level project, worked in the round from the centre out with a knitted on border (which you can see below).

You can click here to see more information or to buy this pattern. If you knit this pattern I would love to see a picture.

Fox Sake: a fun shawl

June 7, 2018 | Verily Knits

Have you seen my latest pattern… this is Fox Sake, a wonderfully fun shawl that is also really quick to knit. Why is it called fox sake? Well I make a little animation to demonstrate:

The entire shawl is knit in garter stitch, with the centre V being shaped with short rows and if you’ve never tried out German short rows before then this is a great project to try them out. You can find all the information about this pattern and also purchase it here.

Jewel Thief Blanket

May 23, 2018 | Verily Knits

After writing about blanket squares layouts in this post I completely forgot to write about my new blanket pattern!

This is the Jewel Thief blanket, the pattern includes instructions for eight different squares and guess what… there isn’t a single purl stitch to be found. All you need to know is K1 and Sl1 so it is wonderfully easy too.

If you are already a fan of mosaic knitting then you’ll love this blanket and if you’ve never tried out this technique then I’m sure you will soon be a fan too.

My sample blanket was knit in Eden Cottage Pendle and Milburn, two wonderful 4ply wool yarns, some of my test knitters tried out the squares in heavier weight and different fibre yarns and showed that the squares look great whatever yarn you choose.

If you’d like to purchase this pattern and to see more pictures just click here to be taken to the Ravelry page.

Planning your knit or crochet blanket layout

April 17, 2018 | Verily Knits

I am currently obsessed with designing and knitting blanket squares, from tiny bias garter stitch squares to large lace and cables squares that is all I want to create at the moment.

With the weather starting to warm up here in the UK I’m also thinking about smaller, lightweight projects that are great for the summer months and I think that blanket squares are the perfect portable project to take out with you to the beach or anywhere you go with your knitting.

So my obsession with blanket squares led me to thinking about how you plan out your finished blanket. If you blanket square are going to be all the same colour and design then this is not an issue, but if you are planning a multi-coloured blanket or one with many different squares then you need to consider how the final blanket will look.

My answer to this is usually to draw out a grid with the final number of blanket squares then start colouring the squares in until I get a layout I love, then I thought wouldn’t it be easier if I had a selection of grids ready so that I can just print them out whenever I need them then start colouring away.

And so I made a small booklet of different sized grids for planning out your blanket, this PDF features seven different sized grids from 6×6 up to 16×16 and you can download your free copy by clicking on the pdf link below.

BlanketLayouts

These grids of course work for both knitting or crochet, I will in the near future create another booklet of grids for larger sized blankets, so if you have any specific requests for a certain size please let me know in the comments.