I’m Helena Callum and I am writing this guest blog post for p/hop to introduce my new pattern, which is now available as a p/hop pattern.

Like all p/hop patterns, it can be downloaded in return for a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières .

The pattern is for a pair of colourful fingerless mitts using DK-weight yarn.

Several colours are used, but because the stitch pattern uses slipped stitches, only one colour is used in any round.

The mitts are worked in the round and incorporate a peasant thumb (sometimes called an afterthought thumb) which means that you just knit a straight tube for the hand, with no worries about remembering to increase for a thumb gusset.

Why are they called “Ermintrude”?

Well, though the stitch pattern looks most obviously like a brick wall, for some reason it reminded me of a cattle grid.

But a very pretty, soft and gentle cattle grid -suitable perhaps for a pretty, soft and gentle cow such as Ermintrude from the Magic Roundabout.

I hope you enjoy the pattern and supporting MSF!

A few months ago, my friend Ankaret Wells self-published two books: The Maker’s Mask and The Hawkwood War. The books are part fantasy, part detective novel, part Regency romance and part cyberpunk, full of humour and populated with wonderfully vivid and three-dimensional characters. I particularly loved Ankaret’s heroine, Tzenni Boccamera, a shy, geeky engineer with a marvellously level-headed approach to problems and a great deal of determination, and I was inspired by a Twitter conversation to design some socks inspired by her.

One of the first things we learn about Tzenni is that she is scared of heights, and particularly of staircases, which puts her at something of a disadvantage living in a world of vertical city-states, or Spires. So I knew straight away that the socks would have to have a staircase-like stitch pattern. However, I didn’t want Tzenni’s socks to define her just by her fears when I had been inspired by her awesomeness. Fortunately her society has a complex system of heraldic devices, and Tzenni’s personal symbol is a rose-glyph, so I took the Rosebud Lace from the first Barbara Walker Treasury, charted in in Excel and then added a framework of purl stitches around the rosebuds to represent the staircases.

I’d never designed anything before, let alone written a pattern, but a few people on Ravelry asked if I was going to write this up, so I thought I’d give it a go. Once I’d made that decision I knew I wanted to offer the pattern to p/hop; I’ve had a great deal of pleasure from knitting p/hop patterns myself and I really hope that other knitters will enjoy knitting their very own Tzenni socks and knowing that they are helping MSF at the same time.

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Thank you Sadie. You can read more from Sadie on her blog, the Knitting up the Ravelled Sleeve of Care.

Spring into spring with this gorgeous Chic Spring Beret kindly donated to p/hop by talented designer Jane Crowfoot and the staff at The Knitter magazine.

The beret uses four colours of DK yarn and is a good introduction to Fair Isle (stranded colour) knitting. If you’re new to Fair Isle knitting there are lots of good tutorials on the internet including one on the KnittingHelp.com website (scroll down for the video) or just ask in the p/hop group on Ravelry if you need any advice.

If you want to see what the beret looks like in other colourways take inspiration from what others have made on Ravelry.

To read more about the Chic Spring Beret pattern and download the PDF click here. Happy Knitting!

The stunning Dido Shawl and Dido Scarf pattern has been generously designed and donated to p/hop by Åsa Tricosa.

The pattern can be knit as either a shawl or scarf and uses 4ply yarn.

To find out more and download a copy of the pattern in return for a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières click here.

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter or join the p/hop Ravelry group to keep up with the latest news and new patterns. Happy Knitting!

Joy Edwards has designed and donated the latest p/hop Hopsox pattern. Thanks Joy!

To download Hopsox click here.

Once you have knitted up these beautiful socks and would like to make a donation for the hours of enjoyment you had click here.  

If you have any queries or comments regarding the pattern, Joy can be contacted on Ravelry by clicking here.

The Without Borders Sock pattern has been kindly donated to the p/hop project by Katie Weston. These lovely socks were inspired by the Endpaper Mitts.

To download a PDF version of the pattern click here.

Don’t forget to make your p/hop donation once you have finished! Easy to donate at justgiving….

Get your knitting needles ready for the latest p/hop pattern – the Jacob Beanie.

To download a PDF version click here.

Big thanks to Terri Bate for designing and donating this lovely pattern.

So.. now we have a scarf, some mittens, a beanie and with Debbie’s sock pattern on the way we are heading for a complete p/hop accessories set for next winter. An entire knitted p/hop outfit is surely worth a donation! Anyone interested in designing a sweater..

Happy knitting!

Lou

The Cranford Mitts pattern has been kindly donated to the p/hop project by Jane Lithgow.

As the title suggests, the inspiration for this pattern came from the BBC adaptation of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Jane says, ‘This gentle drama, both humorous and touching took us into the lives of gentlewomen of certain age living in reduced circumstances. I noticed that many of their costumes included delicate mitts which they wore to ensure warm fingers in their draughty houses. I have adapted this idea to create some warm but delicately lacy mitts to take the edge off chilly spring mornings.’

To download a PDF version of ‘Cranford Mitts’ click here

We hope you enjoy knitting this free pattern and don’t forget to give it a p/hop rating!