Emma Vining Hand Knitting: April 2016

Monday, 11 April 2016

Plush Blush Sweater in Knit Today Magazine

With a chunky herringbone cable and pretty lines of eyelets, my "Plush Blush" sweater in Knit Today Magazine is a great knit for cooler spring days. The eyelet cable folds pattern has mirror image cables on the upper part of the front of the sweater. An eyelet pattern is worked on the front, the back and the sleeves. The borders and neckband are knitted in reverse stocking stitch.

Plush Blush by Emma Vining
Knit Today Magazine 124

Plush Blush is knitted in Stylecraft Alpaca Chunky yarn. This soft, chunky yarn uses 5.5mm and 6mm needles, making this a quick-to-knit project. The lovely pale blush purple shade shown is 6012, Orchid.

Plush Blush by Emma Vining
Knit Today Magazine 124

This sweater makes me feel very spring-like, as at the moment my tiny orchid is in full flower on my window sill. The delicate Orchid flower heads are made up of many beautiful colours, but the palest shade of purple is an almost perfect match for Plush Blush and the Pantone colour of the Year from 2014, Radiant Orchid!

Orchid detail
Photo by Emma Vining

You can find Plush Blush and many more gorgeous knit designs in Knit Today, Issue 124 on sale now.

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Ticket Giveaway for the Edinburgh Knitting & Stitching Show!

The Knitting and Stitching Show will be at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh from 28th April to 1st May 2016. Whether you are looking for inspiration or have a plan to buy yarn and supplies for your next projects, the Knitting & Stitching Shows are always great to visit! There are lots of interesting vendors and the Learning Curve workshops cover many different skills and crafts.

The lovely people from the Knitting &Stitching Show have sent me three pairs of tickets for the new Edinburgh Show to giveaway through my blog!

Update 9/4/16: The Giveaway is now closed and the winners have been contacted. Thank you for all the lovely messages!

If you would like a chance to win a pair of tickets and you are a UK based reader of my blog, please use the contact box on the top right of my blog to send me a friendly message saying hello by Midnight on Friday 8th April 2016 (BST). Three messages will be chosen at random on Saturday 9th April 2016 and if your message is chosen, I will contact you by email for your postal address. Please be assured that I will only use your email to contact you regarding this giveaway.

Good luck and I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Here are the details of the Giveaway:
Due to the show location and timing, this giveaway is only open to UK readers of my blog.
Tickets are valid for one of the days of the show only: Thursday 28th April, Friday 29th April, Saturday 30th April or Sunday 1st May. The tickets can only be used once and give free entry to the Show on the day of your choice.
The deadline for messages to be entered for the giveaway is midnight on Friday 8th April (BST).
Winners will be contacted by email on Saturday 9th April. Winners must then reply to me by Monday 11th April 2016 with their full postal address. If I do not hear from you by Midnight on Monday 11th April 2016, then another name will be picked at random.
Tickets will be sent out by Royal Mail first class post.
No cash alternative is available and the prize does not include cost of travel to or from the venue or any other associated expenses.

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Fashion in Motion at the V&A

Held in the V&A's stunning Raphael Gallery, the Fashion In Motion series has showcased work by many amazing fashion designers. On Friday, designs by Christopher Raeburn were featured in four sold out shows. Christopher Raeburn is a British fashion designer who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2006 and set up his own studio in 2009. He is known for his ethical approach to design and for his strong military influences.

Christopher Raeburn Fashion In Motion
Photo by Emma Vining

I was really keen to see Christopher Raeburn's work as he has recently collaborated with Unmade, an innovative knitwear company that has a unique interaction with their customers. Unmade recently featured in Bright New Things and had a stunning corner window display at Selfridges. I love their interactive knitwear designs and couldn't wait to learn more about Christopher Raeburn. There is an excellent interview with Christopher Raeburn on the Unmade website, explaining some of his inspirations for his collections. The Unmade map sweater he designed looks fantastic and I could play with the map contour lines all day!

Map Contour Sweater
Christopher Raeburn for Unmade
Image by Unmade

Christopher Raeburn has also collaborated with the Woolmark Company, promoting the benefits of Merino wool in fashion and there was a great brochure with some of his AW16 designs waiting for us at our seats. This quote from the brochure sums up his work with the Woolmark Company. "The collaboration is a perfect partnership: Merino wool is a natural, biodegradable and renewable; Raeburn's dedication to sustainability in fashion is typified by his signature reappropriation of clothes and consistent sourcing of renewable fabrics." A good example from the AW16 collection is the "Remade In England Biker Jacket" in the photo below. This stunning jacket was constructed from original British military Guardsman's jackets.

Remade In England Biker Jacket
Christopher Raeburn Fashion In Motion Show
Photo by Emma Vining

The strong silhouettes of the garments looked stunning in the Raphael Gallery, especially the "Remade Schneetarn Anorak".

Christopher Raeburn Fashion In Motion Show
Photo by Emma Vining

There were lots of great accessories too and I loved the Shark bag and knitted shark gloves.

Shark bag
Christopher Raeburn Fashion In Motion Show
Photo by Emma Vining

Shark gloves
Christopher Raeburn Fashion In Motion Show
Photo by Emma Vining

This Fashion in Motion show was a great way to learn more about a very talented designer who is clearly passionate about working with wool in his designs. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Knitwear at the Christopher Raeburn Fashion In Motion Show
Photo by Emma Vining