Dee Hardwicke
Artist • Designer • Knitter
The Knitted Fabric
Colourwork Projects for You and Your Home
I'm so excited to share details of my latest book – The Knitted Fabric: Colourwork Projects for You and Your Home – a fabulous collaboration with the incredibly talented team at Laine Publishing.
Fibre, for me, is the very substance that weaves all of us and our stories together. Brimming with artistic inspiration and filled with patterns for gorgeous knitwear and joyful pieces for the home, The Knitted Fabric invites you to step inside my world. Illustrated throughout with original watercolours and painterly photography that was shot on location in Finland, the book brings the pages of my sketchbooks to life.
I find the process of knitting very similar to painting, with each stitch being a brushstroke of colour. As stitches loop together they create a knitted fabric, a kind of narrative of art, making and the people and landscapes that inspire me.
These are very special projects to really slow down with and to have on-the-go. They are projects to absorb yourself in, enjoying the process as stitches and colours grow into beautiful knitted fabrics to wear or to celebrate the joy of home.
Garden City Colourwork Wrap
Butterfly Colourwork Shawl
Meadow Cowl Neck Sweater
Garden City Patchwork Quilt and Cushions
Butterfly Patchwork Quilt
Garden City Patchwork Quilt and Cushion
Homecoming Colourwork Wrap
Homecoming Hat and Gloves
Homecoming Throw
A Story in Yarn
Colourwork Knits
The artist and designer Dee Hardwicke finds endless inspiration in the natural world and is renowned for her beautiful ceramics, stationery and knits. Now Dee’s latest book, Colourwork Knits, features her first knitwear collection, with stunning designs inspired by nature.
Published by Quail Studio.
Knitted with Rowan yarns.
Photography by Jesse Wild.
Seasonal Palettes
My four Seasonal Palette books - Felted Tweed, Moordale, Kid Classic and Cotton Cashmere are all inspired by the landscapes surrounding my home in the Welsh countryside. Each Seasonal Palette, yarn range is made from existing Rowan yarn colours together with colours that I have created exclusively for Rowan Yarns.
As an artist, I find that each knitted stitch is almost like a brushstroke of paint, and I tend to think of knitting as painting in yarn. My approach to colour has always been very instinctive. I only have to step outside to be inspired by the ever-changing patterns and colours to be found from season to season, and it’s incredible what you notice when you really start to look. I’ve always loved the way that the sky creates an ever-changing canvas throughout the seasons, and how the crisp blues of autumn and winter highlight the dusky pinks, rich yellows and purple-tinged earth tones to be found in the fields, hillsides and hedgerows. That wonderfully layered and complex palette has inspired these four Seasonal Palette collections.
Lookbooks for Seasonal Palettes:
Moordale, Kid Classic, Cotton Cashmere
Dee Hardwicke's Little Colour Knits
As an artist I am always exploring new designs and my inspiration comes from the natural landscape. My studio is in the historic market town of Monmouth, where I am surrounded by the beauty of the Welsh Marches. I am inspired by leaves, flowers, seedlings... all these things are around me and attract me in different ways at different times of the year.
In some seasons it is the pure colour that catches my attention: vibrant reds, glinting golds or earthy browns in autumn, or the fresh greens, sharp blues and citrus yellows of spring. At other times, it is the stark outline of shape and form.
I have always had a love for yarns, and having knitted with Rowan yarns and patterns it wasn’t long before I began to wonder what would happen when my motifs were translated in knitted form.
