Hollyhocks and vintage multi-floral cardigan

Recently I went for a walk in Hyde Park.  I got off the underground at Hyde Park station and went into the park near the lovely flower walk.  There I saw some of my favourite tall spiked flowers - Hollyhocks - in varying shades of pink and white.

I think the colours of these Hollyhocks looks great against the dark maroon leaves of the shrub in the background.

I loved the delicate colours of the white Hollyhock with lemon sorbet centres.

There was a large patch of tall Hollyhocks by the pergola walk.  Unfortunately, the poppies had finished flowering and I expect that they had look magnificent.  I love Oriental poppies too.

The design for the vintage hand knitted 4ply cardigan in the below photograph incorporates lots of different flowers, including Hollyhocks.  The other flowers are Lily-of-the-Valley, Daffodils, Irises, Lilies, Poppies, Sunflowers, Cornflowers and Roses.

Below is a graph chart for a design of very tall Hollyhocks and which was used to form part of the pattern for other floral tunics, sweaters or cardigans in the past.

Foxgloves and vintage knitwear

Foxgloves are beautiful flowers and very easy to grow.  They look wonderful in gardens or growing wild in fields, where they can look amazing mixed amongst other wild flowers.

The foxgloves in the photographs below are growing at the bottom of a large garden, where they have self-seeded and are just growing as wild flowers.

Foxgloves growing wild at the bottom of a Suffolk garden

The beauty of the plants is that they come in a great number of shades of pinks and white.  I love their tall spikes.

Wild foxgloves in a Suffolk garden

These great flowers have also been the inspiration for designer knitwear - such as on this vintage hand knitted cotton cardigan.  It is covered with vases filled with flowers - jerberas, muscari and foxgloves - with climbing wisteria flowers twirling round the top part of the front and back.

Hand knit cardigan covered with vases of flowers and climbing wisteria

3-D foxgloves are growing round the lower part of the body and sleeves on another vintage hand knitted cardigan.  This time clematis twirls around the top part of the cardigan, with bees dotted between the flowers.

Hand knit foxglove and clematis cotton cardigan

The amazing group of tall, spiky, pale pink foxgloves in the photograph below was growing in the garden of a house I visited some time ago.

Flower bed full of light coloured foxgloves

Don't they just look absolutely incredible?

Bewick swans and swan mitts

Living in Barnes Wetland Centre are two beautiful Bewick swans.  They seem to love swimming around together and are very synchronised.

Synchronised swimming for the Bewick swans

Two Bewick Swans

What a beautiful face, with lovely yellow and black beak.

Bewick swan

I have a PDF knitting pattern in my Ravelry shop for fingerless mitts with a Bewick swan on the front of each glove.  The original gloves were hand knitted in denim blue 4ply wool and are available in my Etsy shop.

Swan fingerless mitts

Swan mitt - left hand

Swan mitts - knitting pattern on Ravelry

Swan mitts for sale in Etsy shop

Dog roses - inspiration for cardigan and gloves

I love the delicate nature of dog roses and how pretty they look all over this hand knitted cotton bolero.

Hand knit cotton Dog Rose bolero

Below is a photograph of a 4ply wool hand knitted cardigan with the body in a patchwork pattern of squares, each containing a dog rose or textured lacy leaf pattern.  The roses and lace panels are vertical along the sleeves.

Madder Rose and lace patchwork hand knit wool cardigan

I have not got any photos of my own of real dog roses, but have added a public photograph taken from the internet.

Dog Roses

The design is now on a pair of hand knitted fingerless mitts.  The knitting pattern is available from my Ravelry shop - TwistedClassics.  The gloves, hand knitted in bluey-grey with rose and pink intarsia Dog Roses, are available from TwistedClassics shop on Etsy.

Dog Rose mitts - right hand

Hand knitted Dog Rose fingerless mitts

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/twisted-classics