Yes, it’s April, but I say “No foolin’.” How about a brand new pattern instead? Say hello to Behind the Wallpaper, a two-color mosaic-knit wrap. Visit my Payhip shop and use code theknitno3 for 25% off all patterns through 14 April 2021.
What’s mosaic knitting, you ask? It’s the most fun you can have knitting two colors while only ever working with one. Clear as mud? Mosaic knitting is a form of slip-stitch knitting wherein you knit stitches with one color and slip stitches in the second color (from the previous row). It’s a fun and easy way to dip a toe into two-color knitting without having to wrestle with floats in stranded knitting (when those are too tight, your work gets all scrunched together—there’s none of that in mosaic).
Honestly it’s more confusing in words. In the doing, it is super easy.
The above sample was knit with Harrisville Designs Shetland in White and Midnight (approximately 650 yds of White and 300 yds of Midnight), and I love the strong graphic quality of the two colors, as well as the magical transformation from oiled yarn off the cone to finished fluffy wrap. I also think it would look amazing in two shades of hand-dyed yarn (if you go this route with the fairly standard, 400-yard-ish put-ups from indie dyers, you would need two skeins of one color and one skein of the second, and you could probably squeeze another repeat in to make it longer, if you felt like using up most of the yarn), which would give it a tonal, shimmering quality. Ooh, now I want to make another!
Wondering about the name? The stitch pattern is an adaptation of Barbara Walker’s Wallpaper Lattice from Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns (such a great book). Then “wallpaper” got me thinking about that late-19th Century American feminist short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Have you read it? It’s weird and spooky and will make you think. If you liked it and are looking for a novel, I highly recommend Mexican Gothic*, which I read last year during lockdown.
For more information on the pattern, visit my Payhip shop, where I am slowly adding all my independently-published patterns. Wondering why it’s not in my Ravelry shop? As you may or may not have noticed, last June Ravelry debuted a new look to the site, which caused problems for some users, from eyestrain to migraines. I’m thankful that I don’t have any problems with the site, but sure I believe those folks who have said they do. This change highlighted the fact that the site was not accessible to the visually impaired and that an accessibility expert should have been consulted. Ravelry has stood for the rights of marginalized groups (LGBTQIA+ and BLM, especially), and up until last summer I was proud to be a part of the community. Unfortunately, frustratingly, the Ravelry staff have denied that there are problems, going so far as to archive comments and questions in the forums, hide comments on Facebook, and close comments on Instagram and Twitter. They also claimed in The New Yorker that people’s problems with the redesign had to do with the pandemic. When someone says “Ouch! You stepped on my foot”, you don’t tell them you didn’t and walk away. You apologize and try to do better in the future. Ravelry had earned so much good will in the fiber community, and to see them just throw it all away over the past ten months has been shocking. I haven’t yet decided on closing my Ravelry shop, but I have logged off of Ravelry from all of my devices until April 4th.
TL;DR You can get this pattern in my Payhip shop now (and on Ravelry next week, probably).
Oof. That’s a lot. If you’re still here, thanks. Please consider logging off Ravelry until April 4th in solidarity with those who cannot use the site. Use the coupon theknitno3 for 25% off patterns, including brand new Behind the Wallpaper (details on the pattern page), in my Payhip shop. Let me know if there is another pattern you want that isn’t yet in the shop—I’ll bump it to the top of the queue.
I hope spring is coming your way and that, if eligible, you are getting your COVID vaccine. Happy knitting, dear ones. I’ll be back on the 15th with something new!
xxoo, Kathleen
*That’s an affiliate link to my favorite books list on Bookshop.org. Check back there as I add more titles I’ve enjoyed. I thought I wasn’t reading last year (thanks, pandemic), but it turns out I read more than a book a week and have already devoured 36 books this year. No online retailer is perfect, but I would rather my book money went to Bookshop than Am*zon. You can always visit your local indie shop…