Beachcomber Shawl Pattern now available!

I'm delighted to tell you that my Beachcomber Shawl pattern is now available in my Ravelry and Payhip designer stores! Beachcomber is knitted in the Birlinn Yarn Company's gorgeous Hebridean 4ply yarn in the stunning shade of Corn Marigold.

My shawl design is inspired by a tiny piece of seaweed washed up on a beautiful beach in the Outer Hebrides. The delicate seaweed motif is recreated in my knitting with twisted stitches and eyelets on a garter stitch background.

As well as this wonderful Corn Marigold shade, there are several more beautiful shades of The Birlinn Yarn Company's Hebridean 4ply and the Beachcomber Shawl would look amazing in any of them! Yarn kits are available through The Birlinn Yarn Company website. Also on the website, you will find both of my Crowood Press books for sale - A Knitter's Guide to Shawl Design and A Knitter's Sketchbook!

Beachcomber was first published in Knitting magazine 222 in September 2021.

Hera Cardigan in the Knitter Magazine Issue 174

I am so proud to be featured in The Knitter Magazine this month! My Hera cardigan is on the magazine cover and there is a full page review of my book, A Knitter's Guide to Shawl Design, on p34!

My feather-inspired cardigan design features delicate motifs on either side of the front bands and the centre of the back. The feathers are knitted using twisted stitches and are placed on a reverse stocking stitch background. The cardigan sides and sleeves are knitted in contrasting stocking stitch. 

The gorgeous Fyberspates Vivacious DK yarn shows off this pattern perfectly and I particularly love this beautiful denim shade of blue. 

Don't forget to take a look at page 34 for a lovely review of my book, A Knitter's Guide to Shawl Design!

Silecroft Shawl in Knitting 228

Inspired by a beautiful stone wall on the coastal footpath near Silecroft Beach in Cumbria, my long, narrow crescent-shaped shawl is perfect for keeping cosy and warm during a leisurely walk! You can find the pattern in this month's Knitting magazine, issue 228. My shawl has been styled with another lovely pattern from this issue, the Vest Dress by Eline Oftedal - our cable and texture designs look so good together!

The different materials used to build the wall are represented in my drawing and by my textured cable pattern: smooth stocking stitch olds represent the larger stones, and an embedded twisted stitch pattern alternates between each large stone fold, representing the finer texture of other sections of the wall.

The Silecroft shawl is knitted with three skeins of gorgeous Cumbria yarn by The Fibre Company in the stunning shade of Catbells.

Salina Jane Art

Only two weeks ago today I was at the Unravel Festival of Yarn, really excited to meet up with artist Salina Gani and to see the fantastic illustration she had created for me! If you didn’t get a chance to see it on display at Unravel, here it is!

The idea for the illustration began when Salina was the artist in residence at the Knitting & Crochet Guild online convention in September 2021. I was so impressed with her wonderful live sketches of all the speakers that I commissioned her to create an illustration for me. I love the way Salina has shown my designs and ideas swirling around me - yes, there are always this many! - and they all contribute the the stitch patterns I create on my knitting needles!

Thank you so much Salina ❤️ It has been a joy to work with you and to learn about your amazing creative process!

Cast on with Emma Vining in Knitting Issue 227!

Knitting magazine 227 invites you to “Cast on with Emma Vining”! 

Thank you so much to the Knitting magazine team for the amazing profile article about me and for featuring so many of my shawl designs! 

On this page from the magazine, next to the profile article, there are images of shawls from my new book, A Knitter's Guide to Shawl Design, alongside four of my shawl designs for Knitting magazine - Ammonoid in Ullcentrum 2ply from Midwinter Yarns, Beachcomber in Birlinn Yarns 4ply, Wavelet in Irish Artisan Yarns Merino/ Nylon 4ply and my new design for this issue, Criss Cross in Walcot Yarns Opus!

I’m really delighted to be featured in this fabulous magazine issue and to be headlining on the cover with the amazing Tom Daley! This issue is all about textured knits with fantastic garments and accessories from outstanding designers! The stunning knits featured on the cover are the Tuck Stitch Cardigan by Annekin Allis and the Mossler Shawl by Brian Smith.

Criss Cross Shawl in Knitting 227!

Did you spot my Criss Cross Shawl at Unravel 2022? The lovely folks at Walcot Yarns displayed my new shawl design on their stand for the whole Unravel weekend! You can find more images of the shawl, along with the knitting pattern in Knitting magazine issue 227!

This wide crescent shaped shawl was inspired by a parking surface! The concrete slabs have a criss-cross pattern and grass has grown through these shapes. This has created a textured grid of crosses set within the textured concrete surface. 

The shawl stitch pattern uses an eyelet cross pattern combined with garter stitch to recreate the effect in knitting. The shawl begins with a narrow edge and gradually increases to the full width. The pattern then continues straight, before the decreasing to match the cast-on narrow edge. 

The gorgeously soft Walcot Yarns Opus contrasts the hard concrete inspiration. The beautiful shade is called Greenery and there are so many more shades to choose from as the Opus colour range has recently been extended. Here's the link to the yarn shades - enjoy!

A Knitter's Guide to Shawl Design at Unravel 2022!

Interested in finding out more about shawl design?

Join me for my Unravel 2022 talk, A Knitter's Guide to Shawl Design, on Sunday 13th February at 2pm at the Farnham Maltings! I'm delighted to be part of the Garthenor Organics Talk Series with so many distinguished speakers and panelists!

I'll be sharing examples from my recent projects and from my new book, A Knitter’s Guide to Shawl Design, to inspire knitters to personalise their knitting and create original shawl designs.

"As a desirable item of fashion, a cherished gift or a wardrobe essential, shawls enjoy enduring popularity among knitters and non-knitters alike. The most admired of these beautiful accessories are designed with inspiration drawn from a wide range of themes and ideas. This creativity is achieved by blending a knitter’s imagination with their knowledge of how to translate a source of inspiration into an exciting new design."