Designer Emma Vining explains how she translated medieval
architectural details into a fascinating stitch pattern
IN THIS series of
articles, I have been
demonstrating how
the design inspirations
I have discovered on
my travels have been
turned into stitch
patterns. I hope these
will inspire you to customise your
knitting and to create your own
sketchbook full of personalised stitch
patterns. You can see more of the types
of patterns and locations that inspire me
in my book, A Knitter’s Sketchbook,
and on Instagram @purlemma.
This stitch pattern has been used to
decorate my ‘Crow Steps’ short-sleeved
jumper design in this issue, which you
can find on page 8.
LOCATION
The Belgian city of Ghent has many
beautiful buildings with a distinctive
architectural feature known as
‘crow-stepped gables’, a stair-step
feature surrounding a triangular gable.
Dating back to the 12th century, the
crow-steps provided convenient roof
access, particularly for roofers and
chimney sweeps. My knitting stitch
pattern inspiration was found at ground
level, looking up at these roof lines from
the lovely lanes around the Gravensteen
Castle area of the city.
LINES AND SHAPES
In my side-on photo of the crow-steps,
each step is clearly visible along with
other features such as tiles and bricks.
The time of day at which a photograph
is taken of an architectural detail can
also have a big impact on my design
process. For example, the bright light
of midday can show up tiny design
details, while the low evening sun can
create long shadow lines. In this case,
the triangular-shaped shadow cast
by each crow-step plays a large part
in my stitch pattern design.
STITCH PATTERN
My swatch is made up of three related
sections. On the right-hand side, I have
placed a textured four-stitch cable
pattern to represent the crow-steps
and the bricks between them. The
shadows cast by the steps are knitted
as twisted stitch triangles in the centre
of the swatch. These triangles are
worked in smooth stocking stitch as
the textural features of the roof cannot
be seen in the dark shadows. The
left-hand section of my swatch has a
textured check pattern, to represent the
alignment of the roof tiles. This section
emerges from the centre triangles,
reflecting the way that the roof tiles
become visible beyond the shadows.
YARN
I have chosen West Yorkshire Spinners
1 00% Bluefaced Leicester Aran in shade
Burnt Orange for this swatch, and used
5mm needles. My choice of colour was
inspired by the roof tiles on the Ghent
buildings. This smooth yarn ensures
that the knitted textures and cables
have excellent stitch definition, and
the aran weight creates a bold pattern
on a large scale.
NEXT STEPS
If you would like to customise my
design, why not try making some of
the following adjustments?
- Change the scale of the pattern by
using a lighter weight yarn, such as
DK or 4ply. - Cast on more multiples of the stitch
pattern and work several repeats to
create a textured cable panel.
FAR
LE
FT:
EN
CR
IER
/GE
TT
Y^ IM
AG
ES
Notes sketchbook
from^
my
Emma’s initial design sketch plots out the
position of the different textural elements
Crow-step gables are
a common feature
on Ghent’s rooftops
The Knitter Issue 143 Subscribe now at TheYarnLoop.com