Lilias Day (in colour)

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone. How are you all doing? Here in Scotland we are in the middle of quite a crisp, cold snap. I’m really enjoying my long local walks, the combination of snow and blue skies, and especially the fact that the mornings and evenings are becoming palpably lighter.

There are a few ways to stay warm when taking photographs of a new sweater in sub zero temperatures and a brisk wind. . .

This is one of them!

Hurrah for my new Lilias Day sweater! For this extremely jolly and colourful version of my originally monochrome design I used seven different shades of Schiehallion: Crowdie for the body, then Alto, Rhubarb, Doris, Mooring, Daunder and Faded Overalls through the yoke.

I also knitted the body longer to just-above hip height (to wear with my cords) rather than the original crop (that sits neatly over dresses).

This version is extremely comfortable, and, worked with around 4 inches of positive ease in the second size, is roomy enough to wear a fairly substantial long-sleeved base layer underneath . . .

. . . which is definitely needed in this weather!

One of the things I really enjoyed about knitting this version was working with the Crowdie shade of Schiehallion for the body and sleeves. I always find the sheepy woolly-ness of natural fleece shades appealing – and with Schiehallion that’s particularly so. Corriedale is such a plump and springy fibre, really lovely in the hand!

But the yoke, of course, was where I had the most fun while knitting this version. It took me a wee while playing around with colours, transitions, and chart positions to come up with this particular six-shade sequence, and I rather like it.

If you have purchased this pattern, and are interested in knitting a multi-shade yoke in the same (or a similar) sequence to this sample, we’ve updated the pattern this morning with a chart supplement to enable you to do so. We also have multi-shade kits in the shop which include my new chart.

The shade changes work over 8 or 9 rounds in this sequence, and if you have yarn left over from a Schiehallion sampler, this yoke would be a great way to use it up. One of the many things I enjoy about this chart is the way that the motifs work to create visual continuity across the different shade transitions . . . I had such fun making this one, I now find myself starting to wonder how the yoke pattern might turn out with an interesting variegated yarn used against a neutral. Please, someone, make this version so I don’t have to!

Anyway, I’m clearly in a yoke-y mood, as I currently have another two sweaters of this type on my needles – a different-looking version of an existing design, and another yoke (of rather different style) that I hope will turn out to be a brand new pattern. Perhaps I’ll be able to show you that one next week . . . until then . . .

The Lilias Day pattern is available from the KDD shop or Ravelry and we have kits of both the multi-shade and monochrome versions of the design in the KDD shop.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!