Tortoise and Hare photoshoot

We have re-released the Tortoise and Hare Gauntlets pattern in association with the Handywoman launch.

So if you pre-order a copy of Handywoman, you’ll receive a complementary download of the gauntlets pattern!

The original photography of the original gauntlets (which I knitted and designed way back in 2010, sheesh) was taken in Victoria Park, opposite where I then lived, in Edinburgh.

I remember that the day we took those photographs I was suffering pretty badly from neurological fatigue (as I routinely did, during the first few years after my stroke). It took a lot for me just to haul myself from the sofa (where I spent a lot of time sitting and knitting) and to walk a hundred yards across the road, to hug a tree, while Tom took a photo. You may not be able to see it, but I know from my face in this photo that I was totally exhausted.

Today I am very happy to say that neuro-fatigue is rare, rather than routine. I am still much more tortoise than I am hare, but perhaps I am a little more hare-like than I was. I can cope with so much more than my old circuit of the park – indeed, I walk outside for a few miles every day. But I still like hugging trees.

This tree, as you know, is a particular favourite.

So where better to photograph the new gauntlets?

I confess when I was thinking about possible new shades of Milarrochy Tweed a few months ago, I’d decided in advance that we had to have a hare shade . . . just so I could knit some hares – with hare!

Hare is a beautiful, soft dun colour with pale blue tweedy flecks. Perfect.

The gauntlets’ other shades – Horseback Brown, Bruce and Hirst – work together to create a beautifully soft neutral palette which I just love.

In short, I’m very happy with the way that pattern and yarn work together.

As you can see from these images, the weather in the west of Scotland has been pretty amazing lately.

It’s not often that dazzlingly bright sunshine creates a challenge on one of our photoshoots.

But such was the case last week!

The Tortoise and Hare Gauntlets are available in their newly-reissued form as a Ravelry download, or you can receive the pattern for free with the Handywoman pre-order offer. I hope you enjoy knitting yourself a pair. It’s a pattern that means an awful lot to me.