The Knitter - UK (2019-10)

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

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FT:

EN

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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