It's my turn to host an Island Collection giveaway! Jane Richmond designed five perfect knits inspired by her home of Vancouver Island, then with the help of her BFF and her photographer brother they took those five patterns and turned them into a beautiful, inspirational book.
Top row: Rathtrevor
Middle row: Arbutus, Renfrew
Bottom row: Grace, Strathcona
The book was released only a few short months ago, but there are already loads of gorgeous projects showing up on ravelry. For me, what sets this collection apart from many others I've seen is the fact that it's fairly paired down. True to Jane's modern, simple approach to design the book doesn't have any "filler" patterns. Each of the five patterns are truly unique, special and deserve a spot in the book. I would knit and love every one of these items, which is saying a lot! It's not easy to hit a home run with every pattern.
My second favourite thing about the book is the fact that it comes in a beautifully printed hard copy format, a special item for you to flip through, enjoy and save. But, because Jane is clearly a common sense kinda gal, she's happy to provide digital copies of the patterns to knitters who can provide proof of purchase of the book. I think that is genius! I love holding the book in my hands, but it's also really nice to have a digital version that I can print out and write on, toss into my purse and not have to worry about. This thoughtful bonus means a lot to me.
Though it's hard for me to pick a favourite, it was easy enough to chose the item that I was going to cast on for first: Strathcona!
I just love the light and airy look, the casual drape, that point in the front! It's so clever. Because of the clever factor I came very close to casting on for an Arbutus Cowl as well, wouldn't it be amazing in Orange Label!? I'm sure there will be a few Arbutus Cowl's on my Christmas knitting list next year. Strathcona won out for me because I wanted a light, springy scarf and because I had this gorgeous skein of 75% merino, 25% silk that I had dyed in a colourway I'm calling "Almost Lucky Penny" (it's darker and greener than the final version).
I'm making very good progress on my Strathcona Scarf, a marathon Oscar watching/scarf knitting night helped make a good dent in the knitting.
So, here comes the fun part. I've got one signed copy of Jane's gorgeous book plus 1 special skein of "Almost Lucky Penny" to give away to one lucky reader! To enter your name into the draw simply leave a comment on this post (be sure to include an e-mail address or Ravelry name so I can get in touch if you're the winner!)
Good luck! A winner will be announced on Friday March 1st.