Make it yours: Kitchen Garden Tunic
It's been a little wait, but I know some of you who haven't bought my book Elements have been asking for the designs to be available as single pattern options, so I'll be launching them all over the coming months.
First off it's the Kitchen Garden Tunic (now available for you to purchase via ravelry). This cosy and practical tunic is mainly knitted in simple stocking (stockinette) stitch but has a couple of details which make for a more interesting knit: a central inverted box pleat to the front and a generous patch pocket. If you've not knitted a pleat before, fear not - the pattern includes a photo tutorial to ease the way.
The yarn used is a standard DK weight in a wool and cotton blend, though you can use any DK weight yarn, but for practicality you may want to choose a yarn that is machine washable. I kept mine simple and used greens and mauves inspired by chives and lavender that can be found in my little herb garden, but you can put your own stamp on the Kitchen Garden tunic in a number of simple ways.
Using this design as an example, we’ll explore some easy ways to customise your knits which you can apply to any projects to make them more ‘You”.
Change the colour for a different feel
Changing the colour will have a great impact and make your tunic unique to you. Also as we all know, colours come and go in fashion and it is not at all uncommon to find a shade has been discontinued, but in any case colour is a very personal thing and we will all have our own preferences. It can seem safer to go with the designers choice and many folk lack confidence in choosing their own colourways, so here are some things to consider when choosing a colour scheme:
• neighbouring colour - colours can seem to change significantly depending on what other colours they are placed next to - try this out by placing different coloured yarns next to each other to see if you like the effect.
• different fibre content - the fibre content will affect how the yarn absorbs dye and also how soft or bright the colour appears.
• proportions & balance - there are no rules with this, but it is generally better not to have equal amounts of all your colours as they will be fighting with each other for dominance - it may be better to have larger proportions of 1 or 2 colours, then small amounts of others. Depending on the affect you are looking for you may like to use a fair amount of neutrals to showcase your 'dashes' of more intense shades, or alternatively you may prefer a richer, more intense scheme.
• tone – light, medium and darks - in general colour schemes are more visually interesting where there is a mixture of different tones, so where possible make sure you have a make sure you have a mix of light, medium and darks.
• your colouring - if knitting a garment for yourself or a friend it is important to consider your/their natural colouring and choose colours that will flatter rather than compete with hair, eye and skin tones.
• go with what you passion! - you'll invest a lot of time in knitting your garment so it makes sense to use colour that excites you, will be pleasurable to knit and that you know you'll feel great wearing.
More ideas for customizing your Kitchen Garden Tunic
• add embroidery - perhaps around the neck, hem or to the pocket. I was fancying adding a cross stitch birdy to my pocket!
•add beads - either plan ahead and knit them in, or stitch them on as an afterthought.
•use a different yarn - see my blog post here for tips on substituting yarns.
Hopefully this will get you started with a few ideas.
If you'd like to enjoy special subscriber discounts and an early heads up for future pattern releases, sign up below to join my email list. You’ll also have access to an exclusive Resource Library where you'll find the occasional free pattern and other knitterly resources.