Emma Wright is Britan’s Next Top Knitwear Designer

I’d been on the lookout for this one but somehow missed the official announcement. Back in March I told you about the knitwear design contest being held by LoveKnitting looking for the next great knitwear designer in the UK. Hopefuls had to design a project using yarn that LoveKnitting sells, and their creations were judged by a panel of experts including Debbie Bliss.

The winner is Emma Wright, from Sheffield, who wowed the judges with her bulky tie-back sweater with a textured body, polka-dotted sleeves and bold teal accents.

It’s a really fun design, and because she won the contest she will have the chance to professionally finish her design and make it available for sale at LoveKnitting. She’ll also get work experience with Emilio de la Morena in advance of his S/S London Fashion Week show in September and a cash prize of £1000.

Congratulations, Emma!

Check out the other finalists and see if you think the judges made the right choice.

[Photo via LoveKnitting.]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

Next Pattern:

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