This is an extra special edition of WIP Wednesday, because, after 8 weeks of knitting, I have officially finished my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project! For this project, I made a Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s).

In today’s post, I’ll be chatting about the final stages of making the jumper, as well as sharing some photos of the finished product! I’ll also be taking a look back at all of the things I’ve learned while working on this project.

Progress

I have finished my Porcelain Sweater! Woohoo!

In the eighth week of working on this project, I finished off the second sleeve (including the second band of colourwork and the ribbed cuff). I weaved in all of the ends (which was definitely the most time-consuming job of the week) and blocked the sweater, so it’s completely ready to be worn!

Yarn Usage

With the sweater finished, I was able to work out how much of each of the yarns I used.

Overall…

I used approx. 505g (i.e. 10 balls + a very very small amount of the 11th) of the main colour (DROPS Merino Extra Fine, Off White 01).

I used an average of 2.9g per colour (range: 1.8g – 4.6g) of the Advent mini skeins I used in the first colourwork band (i.e. not on the sleeves).

I used an average of 5.3g per colour (range: 3.7g – 7.4g) of the Advent mini skeins I used in the second and third colourwork bands (i.e. on body AND sleeves).

There is quite a large variation in the usage of each of the mini skeins, which I suppose is based on what the colourwork design involves on each row: rows with more stitches worked in the contrast colour will inevitably use more than the rows with more minimal usage.

In general, the first colourwork band uses less of each colour because it is only worked on the body, not the sleeves.

Post-Knit Thoughts & Musings

With the jumper now completely finished, I thought I’d share some of my final thoughts about the finished product and the project as a whole.

Finishing the Knitting

The second sleeve worked up even faster than the first sleeve, because I’d done all of the mental effort (figuring out where best to work the decreases, when to change colours, how many rows to work etc.) already. This meant I could just follow my notes and do exactly what I’d done before!

Once the sleeve was finished, I’d officially finished all of the knitting for this project, because I worked the neckband beforehand.

Weaving in the Ends

With the knitting all finished, it was time to weave in all those ends. And boy, were there a lot of ends…

I’ll be honest— I didn’t enjoy this stage of the process, but I knew I wouldn’t. Weaving in ends isn’t my favourite job at the best of times and there were soooooo many to weave in here. However, it was a necessary step in the process— the penultimate task left on my to-do list before I could actually wear this thing!

I decided to be strict and not let myself procrastinate, which I may or may not have been known to do in the past with this particular job. I have to say, one thing that helped me shove my procrastinating tendencies aside was my desire to finish this jumper within that 8 week/2 month mark, just because it feels like such a nice, round timeframe. I know it sounds a bit silly as motivations go, but it worked for me (and I’ll accept any help I can get when it comes to my predisposition to putting things off)!

The simplest ends to weave in were definitely the ones in the ribbing, because it’s super easy to hide them in amongst the textured fabric.

The sheer number of colourwork ends made this part of the job a long one, but it wasn’t too tricky to hide them in amongst all of the floats. I would have loved to get a slightly neater finish overall on the inside of the sweater, but I think there’s a limit to how invisible you can make the darned ends without compromising how securely they are woven in. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself… Either way, the outside of the sweater looks super neat, so it doesn’t really matter, because I’m the only one who will see the inside!

Oddly enough, the ends I found the trickiest to weave in were the ends of the DROPS yarn (the main colour) that didn’t sit within any of the colourwork bands. It was really hard to make them look seamless because there was absolutely nowhere to hide: just a blank canvas of purl bumps! I did my best, but they still make me cringe a little when I see them… Oh, well.

Weaving in the ends definitely helped to even out the colourwork jogs that I had been a little worried about. Just tightening up those first/last stitches and securing them into the fabric made everything much neater, so, in the end, the much-dreaded, darning-in process was both a structural necessity and a visual luxury, which is a bit of a silver lining.

Blocking the Sweater

To block the sweater, I used this laundry soap from SOAK. It’s quite expensive (so I use it very sparingly), but it’s a really good, no-rinse formula that works super well for hand-washing knits. It’s stocked by lots of small, yarn-based businesses here in the UK.

Along with the SOAK soap, I also added a colour catcher into the water when I blocked the sweater. I don’t really think this was necessary, because the colours didn’t run at all when I did my swatch, but I didn’t want to risk it!

Once the sweater had soaked for a bit, I took it out of the water and squeezed out as much as I could, being careful to support the weight of the sweater as much as possible, to prevent it from stretching out. I popped it into my mum’s spin dryer to get as much water out as possible, then I spread it flat on a blocking frame to dry.

I didn’t pin it out, because I didn’t want it to crease (and because it didn’t seem super necessary). When I measured the gauge after I’d spread it out, it was perfect, so I figured it was okay to just let it do its own thing.

After a day or so, the sweater was completely dry and ready to try on!

Fit & Gauge Issues

If I’m being 100%, completely, truly honest, I’m a little disappointed with the fit of my jumper.

That’s not to say I don’t love it— I do! I’m really pleased with how the design turned out and I’m really proud of it. It’s one of the prettiest things I think I’ve ever made, and I think the gradient of colours looks really beautiful. It still looks lovely on and it does fit me, it’s just that that fit isn’t quite what I was expecting/intending.

As it turns out, it’s all because of my gauge!

I really, honestly do not know how this happened, but the horizontal (stitch) gauge on my finished jumper was out by 3! Whole! Stitches!

I swear that I measured my gauge multiple times on both my swatch and my sweater (while it was spread out on the blocking mat, post-soak but pre-dry) and the horizontal gauge was perfect (or even if it was ever so slightly off, it definitely wasn’t 3 stitches off, because… there’s no way I would have started knitting knowing that?!). However, when I measure my horizontal stitch gauge now, on my blocked and dried sweater AND my blocked and dried swatch from way back when, my horizontal gauge is off on both.

I must have made a mistake somewhere along the line, whether I measured my gauge incorrectly, or stretched the knitting as I blocked it, or misread the pattern— something must have gone on, but I have no idea what!

I admit, my vertical row gauge was off from the start, but I knew that and factored it into the pattern as I knitted. The proof is in these WIP Wednesday posts— I’ve talked about having to knit extra rows to compensate for this and how worried I was that I would run out of yarn because of that multiple times (though, on the bright side, I didn’t run out of yarn!).

I know that a 3-stitch difference doesn’t sound like a lot, but, in knitting gauges, that’s an enormous difference to the fit. The result of that 3-stitch difference is that the fit of the jumper is quite different to how I expected it. It’s not tight, but it’s more fitted than the sample shown in the pattern. I guess this isn’t necessarily a bad thing— it’s still very wearable and it will be easier to wear a jacket over it, but I am a little disappointed.

I am very pleased, then, that I decided to make the larger of the two sizes I was choosing between, because my Porcelain Sweater has about 10-15cm less positive ease than I was aiming for. In the pattern, there’s a note on choosing sizes, which states that the jumper has an intended positive ease of 15-20cm (though it does also state that the Porcelain Sweater in the pattern photos has a positive ease of 25cm). For me, it was a choice between a Medium (18cm of positive ease, with my measurements) and a Large (28cm of positive ease, with my measurements). Because I wanted my sweater to look more like the pattern picture, and I knew that my row gauge was a little tight, I opted to make the Large size and boy, am I glad of that now!

If I made the jumper again (with this particular yarn), I would definitely size up the needles or make a larger size overall. It’s ironic really, because I was super paranoid about the jumper stretching out loads after blocking (I read some crazy horror stories about this online!). I mean, I did use superwash yarn, so maybe I could “accidentally” stretch it out… just a little? Or is that dangerous territory?

I also think that, particularly on the sleeves, I should maybe have sized up my needles for the colourwork panels, because they do pull in slightly (again… maybe I could stretch this?).

However, I do think that the sleeve decreases are emphasising the problem, because the colourwork bands on the body are much less ‘pulled in’. Perhaps it was something to with how I wove in all those ends on the smaller circumference of the sleeves…?

To end on a positive note, though, one thing that I really do love about the fit of this jumper is that it sits very evenly on my body. I sometimes struggle with the hemline of jumpers looking a bit uneven, because my chest pulls the hemline up at the front, while the back stays low. I don’t have that problem with this jumper, which I’m so pleased about! I had considered this problem before I started, but I couldn’t think of a way to work around that (with short rows, bust shaping etc.) without getting in the way of all of the colourwork elements, so I opted to just make it as instructed and hope for the best, which is what I got in the end!

Lessons Learned

Time to look back over the last 8 weeks of knitting and pull out the biggest lessons I’ve learned! Even if I’m not 100% happy with how a project turns out, I always learn something and I know I’m becoming a better knitter with every project (and mistake) I make. I try to remind myself of this often, because I am someone who really hates making mistakes!

Obviously, this time around, the most important lesson I’ve learned is to be extra careful when gauge swatching. Measure multiple times! Ask for second opinions! Make clear notes and write them down for future reference, so you have a better foundation for figuring out problems later on! Don’t stretch your swatches! Read the right pattern! Periodically check your gauge as you go! Then, cross your fingers and send a prayer to the knitting gods!

Gauge has a huge impact on fit (as we’ve all learned today), so mastering gauge swatching feels like it will be a really important step for me on my knitting journey. In all honesty, I’ve always struggled a little with getting my knits to fit really well, so that’s definitely something I’d love to get better at.

On a more technical level, while making this sweater, I learned a lot about making folded neckbands (which I think are very cool)! I also expanded my knowledge of colourwork charts a bit, because the ones in the Porcelain Sweater pattern did contain some notation that I had never seen before. Of course, I also furthered my knowledge of how to construct a knitted sweater! I haven’t made a huge number of jumpers in the past, so this is still relatively new ground for me, but I’m getting more and more confident with each one I make.

Final Thoughts

And with that, my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project comes to an end!

I’ve really enjoyed working on this project (even if I didn’t enjoy every step of the process quite as much…). I loved knitting the colourwork bands, watching the gradient of colours develop and using my treasured Advent yarns for such a special, exciting project!

I also really enjoyed sharing this project with you in a longer format— it’s a bit different to how I’ve done things in the past, but I think it’s a good way of keeping my slow, mindful hobbies… well, slow and mindful! It’s also nice to share all of the ups and downs that come with creating something— I’m not a super advanced knitter and I’m still learning, so I am forever making mistakes (much to my chagrin), and I think it’s nice to show the reality of that online.

For the next month or so, I’ll be working on smaller, festive projects— ones that I cannot wait to share with you in December(!), so there won’t be any WIP Wednesday posts in November. 

However, if all goes according to plan, WIP Wednesday will be back in December, because my next ‘big’ knit is going to be a festive jumper that I want to knit in the build up to Christmas, during Advent. This will be my first time working on a designated ‘Advent‘ project and I’m really excited about it! I probably won’t get the whole sweater done before Christmas (I mean, this one took me 8 weeks!), but it’ll be fun to see how far I can get! The next jumper is much less experimental than this one, but I’m really excited about the finished product (and I promise that I’ll triple check my gauge swatch this time around…).

I can’t wait to share the moodboard, pattern and yarn with you!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

It’s week 7 of making my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). 

Last week, I made the neckband of the jumper (you can find that post here). In today’s post, we’re talking all things sleeves!

Progress

In the seventh week of knitting this project, I…

• Made the whole left sleeve (!)
• Made about half of the right sleeve

I’m super happy with my progress this week! I was a little worried about making the sleeves, because there are two bands of colourwork on each one, as well as the section of 1×1 rib for the cuffs, so I thought they might take a little while to work up. Fortunately, I was wrong! The smaller circumference really makes them fly by (even with the colourwork/rib), which I’m very pleased about!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

Just like with the neckband, picking up the stitches for the sleeves around the armholes was… a little bit of an ordeal. You’re supposed to pick up approximately 3 sts for every 4 rows, but my row gauge is a bit off (something I’ve had to keep in mind throughout the whole project), so mine was a bit different. For the majority of the armhole, I picked up the stitches in the following pattern:

Pick up 1, skip 1, pick up 2, skip 1.

I did pick up all 3 of the stitches at the underarm, because I wanted to make sure the seam was nice and strong there, which can often be a weak point.

I also picked up 3 extra stitches, which I spaced out evenly (one at the shoulder and one at the halfway point between the underarm and the shoulder on each side), just to get to the right stitch count.

It’s a bit complicated, but it’s what worked for me! The aim was just to keep the picked up stitches as evenly distributed as possible.

On the bright side, unlike the neckband, there were no diagonal sections, so it was much easier to work out where to pick up the stitches from this time around.

Once the stitches were picked up, it was time for some plain stockinette— I worked 14 rows.

Then, it was colourwork time!

I have to say, when I saw the charts for the sleeves… my heart sank. They looked so intimidating!

Luckily, I got used to them pretty quickly— the motifs themselves are exactly the same as the body charts, they’re just laid out in their entirety (rather than as a repeating motif) to make it easier to work the different sizes. Once you figure out the pattern repeat on each round, it gets a lot easier (you just have to pay a bit more attention at the beginning and end of each round!).

The sleeves are shaped using centred double decreases. I enjoy working these decreases and they look very neat, but they are a little bulkier than a regular decrease (because they use 3 stitches instead of 2).

For my size (L), you’re supposed to work the decrease on the third round of Chart B, but, because you decrease right at the end of the row/start of the next row, I couldn’t quite figure out how that fit in with the colourwork in the chart. In the end, I worked that particular decrease at the end of round 2/start of round 3 instead, which I think fit better? Who knows!

All of the other decreases within the charts (there are two decrease rows in each one) fall in the blank sections of the colourwork, so I just worked the other three decrease rows as instructed.

One thing that I was super happy about was that, on the sleeves, you don’t have to alter the stitch count for the leaf motif— it just fits in! I was so pleased, because I found changing up the stitch count on the body a bit fiddly (it took me far longer than it should have to work out the logistics of) and I was kind of dreading having to do it again.

For the stockinette section in between the bands of colourwork, I worked 24 rounds, which is the same number of rounds that I worked between the bands on the body (this is more than the pattern calls for, because of my tighter row gauge).

After working Chart C, I worked 16 rounds of stockinette before beginning the cuff. I actually forgot to change to the smaller needles on the final round of stockinette, so I had to tink back…

There is an obvious jog in the colourwork at the BOR, but I do think that is exacerbated by the colour changes and loose ends. I’m hoping that when I weave in all of the ends it will even out the jog a little!

I worked the ribbed cuffs using the same technique I used for the hem and the neckband, knitting the knit stitches English-style (i.e. my usual technique) and purling the purl stitches continentally, to keep everything nice and neat.

I worked the same number of rounds as I had worked for the hem (30) to keep everything uniform, then bound off with HiyaHiya Grandma’s Super Stretchy Bind Off again.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, the sleeves are knitting up so much more quickly than I expected: I thought I’d probably have to write one weekly update on the first sleeve and another on the second, but I’m already halfway through the second sleeve! Ah, the joys of a smaller circumference (and not needing to manipulate stitch counts to accommodate colourwork charts)!

I still find picking up stitches a bit stressful— it’s definitely a task I find myself putting off. It took me a good few times to get right on the first sleeve, but at least then I knew exactly what to do for the second sleeve and could get right to it!

And that’s where I’m at! I’m hoping to finish the final sleeve pretty quickly so that I can sew in all the ends (…rip…) and block the jumper as soon as possible!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

It’s week 6 of making my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). I finished the body last week (check out the post here), so today’s post is all about the neckband!

Progress

In the sixth week of knitting this project I…

• Made the neckband!

This was a small job, but a slightly complex one. The neckband is worked directly onto the jumper, folded and knitted down to create a really neat finish— it’s not super tricky, but it does require a bit of focus!

The pattern suggests working the sleeves after the body, but I opted to work the neckband first. I’m hoping this will make it easier to visualise the fit/length while I’m working on the sleeves.

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

The neckband has definitely been the fiddliest part of this project so far, but I do think it’s worth it— it looks so neat and professional!

I definitely recommend watching the recommended video on www.leknit.com (you can find it here), because I found it incredibly helpful to see what was happening, rather than just trying to work it out from the pattern. The audio is in Danish, but you can turn on auto-translated subtitles that will give you the gist of it, plus you can still get a good idea of the technique just from watching the process.

I actually recommend watching both of the suggested videos in the pattern as you reach them: there is another video for picking up the stitches along the left shoulder that I also found very helpful (you can find that one here).

Honestly, the most difficult part of this neckline was picking up the stitches. It was fine when I was picking up stitches on the straight edges but, as soon as the diagonal edges crept in… chaos ensued.

Ultimately, it just took a lot of trial-and-error to decide how/where to pick the stitches up— I prioritised neatness (how seamless does the join look?) and strength (how loose/hole-y does the fabric look?), and tried to stay as consistent as possible with my approach throughout the whole neckline.

I did find it helpful to use lockable stitch markers to mark out where each section was: the pattern gives you the approximate stitch counts for the back, front and sides of the neck (so helpful!), which means you can break the process down into stages.

For the sides, I found it helpful to divide them up even further. I placed one lockable stitch marker halfway through each section, then another two to divide each side in half again, giving me four equal sections. I aimed to pick up an even (or as even as possible— the maths didn’t quite work out perfectly) number of stitches in each quarter, which helped keep to keep me on track

Honestly, the picking up stage took me a good while (I think two evenings!), because I had to keep going back, restarting and reattempting it. I was almost relieved to get back to the 1×1 rib when I finally finished!

Almost. I was almost relieved, because, yep, I still find 1×1 rib slow and vaguely soul-destroying. Sigh.

Just like with the ribbed hem at the bottom of the body, while I was knitting the rib, I worked the knit stitches in my usual method (English-style) and the purls continentally, which I find keeps my rib looking neater.

The ribbed section did take me a little while, but it was definitely nice to be working on a smaller circumference than the hem! I used a short circular needle for this to keep everything as neat and speedy(ish) as possible.

Once the ribbing was done, it was time to… pick up more stitches. I found this process a little easier (though still trickier on the sides!) this time around, because I already had a clear guideline: the seam I created during the first picking-up session.

The process of knitting the folded neckband down was a little fiddly, but it was actually quite a straightforward technique— that is, I understood what I was doing easily (after watching the video) but actually doing it made me feel a little like I was all fingers and thumbs! Nevertheless, it gave a really neat finish and I think the neckband looks super professional— I’m really happy with it!

I did switch back to purling with my usual method (English-style) when binding off the neckband, because I wanted to make sure it was as stretchy as possible (purling continentally tightens up the stitches, which makes for a neat finish but isn’t quite so conducive to a stretchy neckline!).

Final Thoughts

And that’s the neckband of my Porcelain Sweater officially finished! It was a little tricky, but I’m so happy with how it turned out— I think it looks really good and I love the way that the internal seam ends up entirely enclosed within it (what a genius design!).

I definitely feel like I’m getting closer to the finished product now! Just the sleeves to go!

Plus, you know, weaving in all those ends… but let’s not think about that just yet…

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

I didn’t share a WIP Wednesday post last week because I was busy with Wedding Cake Week: Season 2, so this post will be covering weeks 4 & 5 of making my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). 

Progress

I definitely feel like my progress has slowed down a bit— the more excited I get to finish this project, the slower I seem to knit!

In the fourth and fifth weeks of knitting, I have…

• Finished the 1×1 rib section on the body
• Cast off!

In my defence, I spent most of the first week making another wedding cake, so I only managed to knit about 6 rows that week— most of this progress took place in the second week (Week 5).

Also: now the ribbing is done, you can finally see the third colourwork band in all its glory! Wahoo!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

My goodness… I forgot how interminable 1×1 rib feels!

There’s a pretty hefty chunk of rib at the base of the body and, honestly, I didn’t love working it. The stitches were flying off my needles while I was doing the stockinette/colourwork sections, but I really had to dig deep to get the ribbed section finished.

In fairness to 1×1 rib, white it is usually slower than regular stockinette, there were a couple of extra things slowing me down this time around…

Firstly, for most of the ribbing, I was using a circular needle with ever-so-slightly too long a cable, so I was kind of yanking the work around the needles a lot. I knew this was happening, but I couldn’t believe it was enough to slow me down quite that significantly, so I stuck with it for about 3/4 of the ribbing… big mistake! Eventually, I made the swap to the shorter needles and… it was a lot quicker. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d done that earlier.

Secondly, I wanted my ribbing to be really neat, so I opted to use a technique I’ve been trying out recently where you knit the knit stitches normally (for me, that means English-style, or ‘throwing’) and purl the purls continentally (also known as ‘picking’). This can help tighten up the ribbing, which makes it look neater.

I actually really like this as a technique and have been doing it for most of my ribbing recently, but it does make the process take longer because you have to keep changing the direction of the yarn (and you have to remember to purl into the back of the purl stitches, because the continental method reverses their position on the needles!).

All-in-all, 1×1 rib is super slow, but I managed to make it even slower for myself. I’m just a glutton for punishment, I suppose.

After the ribbing, the pattern suggests using a tubular bind-off. I have done this technique before, with my Braidy Loop Sweater, but I didn’t love it: it felt like a lot of work, involved grafting with a very long piece of yarn and I think it has quite a tight, firm feel to it that isn’t my favourite.

Instead, I used HiyaHiya Grandma’s Stretchy Bind Off, where you purl the knit stitches and knit the purl stitches, always moving the working yarn behind the stitches as you work them, then pass the initial stitch over the second stitch. You can see the technique in action in this YouTube video by Carrie Ramirez (in the video, this technique is used for 2×2 rib, but it works for any ribbed pattern).

This bind off still has its own faffs (mainly the constant slipping of stitches back and forth to get the working yarn in the right position), but it doesn’t require any setup rows, it’s not a sewn cast off (so no trying to manage ridiculously long lengths of yarn!) and it has a soft, even feel and neat appearance, so I still think it’s preferable to a tubular bind-off!

Final Thoughts

Essentially, the ribbed section at the bottom of this sweater took me 2 whole weeks to finish (though, as I mentioned, there was a wedding cake-shaped distraction in that first week!). I didn’t really enjoy this stage of the process, because it just felt so endless and a little bit foreign to my fingers after all of that dreamy stockinette.

Nevertheless, it is done! Now I can move on to making this sweater body into an actual sweater: just the neck and sleeves to go!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

My current project is still my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), made using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). 

Three weeks into the knitting process and progress has been made: I’ve officially finished all of the colourwork on the body and knitted with all 24 of the Advent yarns. It’s very exciting seeing the majority of the body made and I’m absolutely loving how this project is looking so far!

Progress

In the first two weeks of working on this project, I worked all the way up to the end of the second band of colourwork, which I think is pretty speedy)!

The third week involved very straightforward knitting: no shaping, just a big chunk of plain stockinette and another band of colourwork, using the remaining 9 shades of the Advent yarns.

In the third week of knitting then, I finished…

• The 2nd band of plain stockinette
• The 3rd and final colourwork band!

My progress has slowed a little bit, because I’ve had a super busy month or so (more on that in due course… stay tuned!), but I’m so pleased to have finished the colourwork bands on the body— it’s lovely to see all of the colours together and have something that actually (kind of) resembles a sweater on my needles!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

The rows of plain stockinette are deliciously repetitive and comforting in their boringness: just what I need after the intense colourwork of each patterned band!

My row gauge is a little off, so I ended up working 24 rows for each of the plain stockinette sections (6 more than the pattern calls for). Will I run out of the DROPS yarn? That remains to be seen…

The third colourwork band was much more straightforward than the second: no float-carrying, no increasing/decreasing for certain sections, just pure, simple colourwork. Much more enjoyable (and much neater on the wrong side!).

I worked 6 rows of plain stockinette after the third band, switching to 3mm needles for the 6th and final row to prepare for the big stretch of 1×1 rib that is to come…

I’ve now used each of the 24 yarns in the Bridgerton Advent collection, so I can really see the gradient— it’s looking just how I pictured it would, which makes me so happy.

I do have more colourwork to do, because the second and third bands are repeated on the sleeves, so I’m not done with my contrast yarns yet. First, though, a lot of rib…

Castle View Yarns 2025 Bridgerton Advent: Shades 8-1

In the first band, I used shades 24-17 of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent gradient from Castle View Yarns, while in the second band I used shades 17-9. In the previous two posts on this project, I went through those yarns shade-by-shade, showing off the colours and contemplating their individual inspirations from the show (you can find my musings on shades 24-17 here, and on 16-9 here).

Now, it’s time to talk about shades 8-1! The first row of this colourwork band was knitted with shade 9, just to help the gradient flow through the sweater, but, seeing as I already talked about shade 9 last week, I’ll skip that one here.

Just like before, here are the shades, their names and my ✨educated guesses✨ of their inspirations from the show!

8: ‘One Always Has Worth’

This teal shade is named after a quote by Penelope, from her big speech in the Season 3 finale. In the scene, she wears a dress in a very similar shade, so I’m pretty sure that that’s the inspiration behind this yarn!

7: ‘Wallflower’

This green shade is one of the strongest and most vibrant colours in the whole collection: so much so that, when I first used it in my colourwork swatch, I actually considered leaving it out of the sweater, because I was worried that it might overpower the other shades!

However, once I’d finished the swatch completely, I realised that, despite being a strong shade, it did fit nicely in with the other shades so I decided to stick to my original plan and leave it in. I did, however, adjust my distribution of the 3-row shades within the colourwork, so that this shade was only used for 2 rows in the pattern, just to make sure it wasn’t too overpowering. The name of this shade must be a reference to the iconic dark green dress that Bridgerton’s resident ‘wallflower’ Penelope Featherington wears to Lady Danbury’s Four Seasons Ball in the first episode of Season 3!

6: ‘But You’re My Mess’

This aqua shade is named after a quote said by Colin Bridgerton to Penelope Featherington in Season 3 (we’re pretty heavy on the Season 3 inspirations in this section!). Both Colin and Penelope are… unclothed… when the quote is spoken, and the set is mostly dark blues and golds, so I think this shade is supposed to represent their relationship as a whole, rather than that particular scene. The greeny-blue hue is frequently associated with this couple throughout the series, as it’s supposed to reflect the merging of the Bridgerton family (who are typically represented by the colour blue) and the Featherington family (who are typically represented by the colour yellow), so this shade feels very fitting.

5: ‘Aubrey Hall’

Aubrey Hall is the Bridgerton family’s country residence. It features most prominently in Season 2, when Anthony, the eldest Bridgerton son, invites the Sharma family to stay there with his family, ahead of a large ball they are hosting. I think this green shade pays homage to the huge, perfectly manicured lawn of the residence, where the Bridgerton family engage in their cutthroat games of Pall Mall.

4: ‘We Shall Promenade’

The name of this pale green shade does sound like it references a particular quote from the series, but I just can’t seem to place it! There are a lot of promenading scenes throughout the series though, so I do think it needed a reference! The yarn is such a pretty shade too: pale green with little flickers of turquoise and specks of golden yellow.

3: ‘My Purpose Shall Set Me Free’

Another Penelope quote! This one is from Season 2, when Penelope and Colin are talking about Colin’s existential crisis… I think this yellow-green shade perfectly encapsulates the green grass in the grounds around the palace, the yellow of Penelope’s dress and the golden sunlight that shines down on the two characters in the scene.

2: ‘Flawless, My Dear’

This shade is named after a quote said by Queen Charlotte in the first episode of the first season, during Daphne’s debut (how far we’ve come!). This pale gold, champagne-y shade pays tribute to Daphne’s white-and-gold debutante attire, as well as the pearls (and other assorted finery) worn by the Queen.

1: ‘Lustre & Glitter & Gold’

This golden shade is named after a quote by Portia Featherington, said while informing her housekeeper, Varley, on her desired theme for the extravagant ball she plans to throw to celebrate the family’s new (sketchily-acquired) wealth. This yarn is, undoubtedly, aptly named!

Final Thoughts

And that is how Week 3 of working on my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project went! Even though I had a little less time to knit this week, I’m still loving working on this project and it was particularly exciting to see all of the finished colourwork bands together, with the whole gradient of colours running through them!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

I’m still working on my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), with the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s).

I’m not a super speedy knitter (your girl has cakes to bake), but I felt like I got quite a lot of knitting done in the first week of making this project! The second week involved less shaping than the first, but just as much colourwork (in the round, this time, thank goodness) and I think I got a pretty good chunk of knitting done!

Progress

After the first week of knitting, I had worked the top of the back section (including the first band of colourwork), as well as both shoulders. I’d also knitted the first handful of rows after joining the right and left shoulders across the front.

In the second week of knitting, I finished…

• The top part of the front section (including the other half of the first colourwork band)
• Lots of plain stockinette rows in the DROPS yarn
• Joining the front and back together to start working the body in the round
• The second band of colourwork

So, a lot of colourwork this week, paired with a big stretch of stockinette!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

I am so relieved to be working in the round now— I’m a super slow purl-er and… knitting colourwork flat? It’s not for the weak. I’ve continued my gradient of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent colours into the second band of the sweater, so I’ve gone through the purples and dipped into the blues towards the end.

The second band of colourwork is definitely more complex than the first: not only is the repeat larger (and a little less intuitive to follow), you also need to increase and decrease the stitch count around the middle leaf design to make it work.

On some of the rows of the leaf design, I did need to carry the floats by twisting the yarns at the back of the fabric, which was a bummer, because I thought I had moved past all that float-carrying business once I switched to working in the round, but alas, the distance between the contrast stitches on some rows was just too great.

I think the aforementioned float-carrying and relative complexity of this band definitely meant that my work isn’t quite as neat as the first band, but I’m hoping that it will kind of… smooth itself out once I block it? Fingers crossed!

I did make one slight adaptation when it came to increasing the stitch count for the leaf motif. For my size, I needed to increase my stitch count by 6 stitches, so I placed 6 stitch markers around my work, evenly spaced, so I would know where to work them. I was supposed to increase on Row 8, but I ended up working my increase row on Row 9, instead.

I wanted my increases to be as invisible as possible, so I tried a few different types of increase (k2tog, M1L, LLI etc.) and I found that the k2tog made a visible ‘purl’ bump, so I opted to use a lifted increase. However that meant that if the stitch being lifted was a different colour (i.e. if I was lifting a stitch from the contrast colour row), the increase not only stood out more, but it also threw off the seamlessness of the colourwork. Shifting the increases to the Row 9 meant I could work M1Ls pretty seamlessly, knitting cream stitches on top of cream stitches, without distorting any of the colourwork (LLI lifts the stitch from two rows below, so I couldn’t use that one!). I suppose I could have done M1R, but I do not particularly enjoy working M1Rs so… M1L it is!

I worked my increases and decreases as close to my original 6 stitch markers as possible, but I prioritised making sure that they were well within the chunks of cream stitches (i.e. not too close to any of the contrast colour stitches), to minimise any distortion of the colourwork. I know this all sounds a bit… over the top, but I think it makes a big difference and I’m really pleased I took the extra time to think about it— it made me feel very professional!

Castle View Yarns 2025 Bridgerton Advent: Shades 16-9

I’m working through the 2025 Bridgerton Advent gradient from Castle View Yarns (in reverse) as my contrast colour(s), within the colourwork bands of this sweater. In the first band, I used the Shades 24-17 (which I talked about in detail in last week’s post!).

In this second band of colourwork, I used the shades 17-9. I mentioned last week that I only worked one row at the end of the first band in shade 17, so I continued on with it at the start of the second band to help the gradient flow through the sweater. However, because I did my deep-dive into that shade last week, I’ve skipped it in this post!

Just like last time, here are the shades, their names and my ✨educated guesses✨ of their inspirations from the show!

16: ‘The Modiste’s Thread’

This pinky-purple shade is obviously inspired by Madame Delacroix, the ton’s modiste in the show. In general, Madame Delacroix wears darker colours than this (think navys, blacks and dark purples!), so I don’t think it is directly inspired by her character, but, as the name suggests, by the fabrics and materials that she uses in her dress-making business! In fact, there’s a scene in Season 3 where she’s suggesting fabrics to Penelope Featherington and holds up a lilac material that does remind me a little of this yarn!

15: ‘Den Of Iniquity‘

This grape shade is named after Lady Danbury’s exclusive soirée for the married women of the ton, which Daphne Bridgerton is invited to in Season 1. Daphne wears purple to attend the event, a colour she shifts into wearing after her marriage. However, the Danbury colours are typically deeper, more jewel-toned shades, which I think is where the darker tone of this yarn comes into play.

14: ‘Bane Of My Existence’

This purple shade is named after one of the most iconic quotes from Season 2, said by Anthony Bridgerton to Kate Sharma. Kate is often shown wearing deeper shades (lots of teal and purple!) than her debutante sister, Edwina, and this moody purple feels very evocative of her relationship with the Viscount.

13: ‘Mallet Of Death’

The so-called ‘Mallet of Death’ in the Bridgerton family’s Pall Mall kit may be black, but Kate Sharma wields it twice throughout Season 2 and both times she is wearing a purple dress, so this deep, aubergine shade feels like a perfect fit!

12: ‘Love Is Not Finite

This shade is very similar to ‘Bane of My Existence’: a ‘true’ purple, albeit slightly deeper and more blue-toned. The name ‘Love Is Not Finite’ comes from the scene in Season 3, where Benedict offers his sister, Eloise, advice. If I’m being honest, I was sure that Violet Bridgerton said this line to Anthony in Season 2 (hence the purple), but I was completely wrong! While neither Benedict nor Eloise wear purple in the Season 3 scene, Benedict’s love interest Sophie does wear this colour when she works as a maid at Bridgerton House in Season 4 and, while I know these colours were designed long before the release of Season 4, I still think it’s a fun twist of fate!

11: ‘We Chose To Love

This lavender shade is named after a quote that is definitely said by Violet Bridgerton! She says this while imparting some advice to her daughter, Daphne, towards the end of Season 1. This colour ties in so nicely with Violet’s character, both with the purple reference in her name and the little specks of ‘Bridgerton Blue’.

10: ‘The Queen’s Sparkler’

This shade must be a reference to Francesca Bridgerton in Season 3, who makes her debut and eventually becomes the Queen’s so-called ‘Sparkler‘. This is a delicate, soft blue shade, shot through with hints of purple, pink and gold.

9: ‘What If I Want To Fly?’

This shade marks a clear shift into the blues of the gradient, and is named after a quote spoken by Eloise Bridgerton. Within the blue, this yarn contains hints of the green of Eloise’s dress in this scene, as well as a stronger, more vibrant blue shade that I think reflects the character’s bold attitude (and general recalcitrance) well.

Final Thoughts

And that is how Week 2 of working on my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project went! I’m still really enjoying this process, even though I found that leaf section in the second colourwork band… a little less enjoyable than the other sections! It’s been so satisfying watching the gradient form alongside the varying patterns and it has been very nice to fall back into the swing of knitting in the round again!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

I’ve already shared one recipe in this series: my Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits, inspired by Rosamund and Posy Li, two of the new characters in Season 4. Today’s recipe is inspired by their mother: Araminta Gun, the Evil Stepmother-esque antagonist of the season, played by Katie Leung (whom you might recognise as Cho Chang from the Harry Potter films!).

The Inspiration

Araminta Gun is the archetypal ‘Evil Stepmother’; she’s twice-widowed, always wearing black and positively brimming with nefarious schemes. When it came to creating a sweet treat inspired by her character, I immediately thought of some sort of double-chocolate tart (I mean, with that all-black wardrobe, it was kind of a must!): chocolate pastry and a dark, chocolate filling for a super moody, but still sophisticated and elegant treat. I actually received some tartlet tins (these ones, from Lakeland!), for my birthday last year, so I decided to make mini tarts instead of one big tart (one of the best decisions I could have made, as it turns out— more on that in a sec!). I also love making my Bridgerton-inspired recipes feel like they could fit right in at a fancy afternoon tea, so tartlets seemed like the perfect choice.

I absolutely could have made a simple, dark chocolate ganache tart with a chocolate pastry, but I wanted something a little bit more unusual for this recipe. I toyed with a couple of different ideas, but eventually settled on something that I was really excited about: a Millionaire’s Shortbread-inspired, espresso-flavoured tart. If you aren’t familiar with Millionaire’s Shortbread, it’s a super popular treat here in the UK: it’s typically served in bar form (like a brownie or slice) and features a layer of shortbread, a layer of condensed milk caramel and a layer of chocolate.

Money plays a key role in Araminta’s storyline, so the whole ‘millionaire’ vibe seemed like a perfect fit. She’s by no means a sweet character though and Millionaire’s Shortbread is (perhaps infamously) a very sweet dessert, so I wanted something that, along with the darker, double-chocolate element, would tone that sweetness down and speak more to the bitterness of her character: enter, the espresso. Chocolate and coffee is such a classic pairing (it even has a name: mocha!), so this flavour combination isn’t anything groundbreaking, but the tartlets still feel pretty unusual and exciting (while still being absolutely delicious and very palatable)!

While you would usually use pastry for a tartlet, I’ve opted to use a shortbread base here for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted to stick as closely as possible to a typical Millionaire’s Shortbread. Secondly, the added sweetness of the shortbread compared to a pastry actually works really well in this recipe, because both the espresso and chocolate are, well, not so sweet. Thirdly (and finally), I actually have a bit of a mental block about pastry: I just haven’t been able to master it yet! This shortbread base is SO much easier to work with than a classic shortcrust pastry: it’s really great!

So, in summation: my Araminta Gun-inspired, Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets feature a chocolate shortbread crust, an espresso caramel filling and a shiny, dark chocolate ganache glaze. All of these elements come together to make the slightly more refined, much less sweet cousin of the Millionaire’s Shortbread and, I have to say, they might just be one of my favourite treats yet!

Equipment

As I mentioned, I used these tartlet tins from Lakeland for this recipe. They’re 10cm in diameter, 2cm deep, non-stick and have fluted edges and removable bases.

If you’re able, I really do recommend making this recipe in tartlet form: I’ve tried it in a couple of different formats (bars, bigger tarts etc.) and the ratio of the different layers is just perfect in the mini form! Plus, they slice so beautifully and look so pretty: I might just have to start developing even more tartlet recipes so we can all justify the presence of specialist tartlet tins in our kitchens…

Ingredients

To make these Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets, you will need:

• Caster sugar

I use golden caster sugar here, as I do for most of my bakes, because I think it adds a deeper flavour. If you only have white caster sugar though, that will work absolutely fine!

• Butter

I’m using salted butter here, because the salt really enhances the chocolate flavour and helps to temper the sweetness of the caramel. If you only have unsalted butter to hand, that’s absolutely fine— just add a pinch or two of fine sea salt to both the shortbread and the caramel.

• Plain flour

Don’t be tempted to use self-raising flour here, or your shortbread will puff up too much and you won’t be able to fit the fillings into the tartlet cases!

• Cocoa powder

Cocoa powder is what turns regular shortbread into chocolate shortbread. It is quite a drying ingredient though, so the amount of butter in the shortbread is increased slightly to ensure the dough comes together perfectly.

• Condensed milk

Ah, condensed milk: love of my life, bringer of joy. This is a key ingredient in any Millionaire’s Shortbread and this recipe is no different! It is the main ingredient in the caramel layer.

• Dark muscovado sugar

Typically, Millionaire’s Shortbread recipes use a more neutral sugar in the filling (think light brown soft sugar, light muscovado or even golden caster sugar), but I’ve used dark muscovado here to really enhance the bitter espresso flavour in the caramel and bring a little more depth and darkness to the dessert overall.

• Golden syrup

A small amount of golden syrup is also added to the caramel filling. I find that this helps to give the caramel a smoother, more velvet-y texture.

• Instant espresso powder

Instant espresso powder is the key to getting a really intense, espresso flavour without adding to much liquid to the caramel filling (and it’s readily available in most supermarkets). It is different to instant coffee granules: a bit richer and stronger, so do make sure you get the right product!

• Dark chocolate

Use a high-quality dark chocolate here for the best results— the flavour will really shine through in the finished dessert! You can go as dark as you fancy: I’ve used a 54% chocolate, because I really love the taste, but a 70% one would make for an even more sophisticated flavour.

• Double cream

We’ll melt the cream together with the chocolate to make a rich ganache. If you’re in the US, use heavy cream.

• Glucose syrup (optional)

To make sure the final layer of ganache stays really shiny, even after it’s been refrigerated, I like to add a very small amount of glucose syrup. I have this on hand for a bunch of other baking purposes, but it is a bit of a speciality ingredient. You can substitute golden syrup for the same effect, but I do find that it adds a slightly more intense sweetness to the ganache layer, so you might want to consider using a darker chocolate to balance it out!

• Sea salt

You’ll need to add a little salt to both the shortbread and the caramel if you’re using unsalted butter, just to help all of the other ingredients really shine. I also like to sprinkle the finished tarts with a little flaky sea salt: it’s a really simple decoration but it looks very elegant (and tastes delicious!). I’ve used Fleur de Sel on these tarts, which is extra delicious, but regular sea salt would also be great. Just be sure to sprinkle the salt on just before you serve the tarts, as it can dissolve slightly if it’s left in the fridge, which doesn’t look quite so pretty.

How to Make Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets

These tartlets look complicated, and there are a few different steps you need to work through, but each step is super straightforward! The shortbread crust is SO much easier to work with than a typical pastry (and it’s made entirely in the food processor!), the caramel layer is incredibly forgiving and the ganache is truly just a melt-everything-together situation. Take it step by step and you’ll be absolutely fine!

Making the Chocolate Shortbread Dough

To make the shortbread dough, put all of the dry ingredients (caster sugar, plain flour, and cocoa powder) into a food processor and pulse to combine them. I’m using a mini food processor here, because I was making a smaller batch, but I’d recommend using a standard-sized food processor for the full batch!

This ensures that the cocoa powder is well incorporated and your dough is evenly chocolatey!

Add the cold, diced butter to the dry ingredients.

Then pulse again until a chocolatey dough forms. That’s it!

A couple of tips at this point:

• Make sure your butter is cold and diced.

The cold butter helps to make the shortbread really short (hence the name!) and flaky. Dicing it beforehand means that it will combine more quickly with the rest of the ingredients.

• Don’t be tempted to add water.

Because the butter is cold, the dough will take a bit of pulsing/processing before it comes together. You might start thinking that it’s too dry to form a dough, but it’s not! You don’t need to add any extra liquid/butter, just keep processing it and the dough will form. Trust me!

Pressing the Shortbread into the Tartlet Tins

Unlike pastry, this shortbread can just be pressed into the tartlet tins. No rolling out, no flouring the work surface: just pressing in the dough with your fingers.

Start by lightly greasing each of the tartlet tins with butter. This will help you get the tarts out of the tins later on!

Bring the dough together with your hands, then divide it into 9 equal portions: 1 per tartlet tin. This way, you’ll know exactly how much dough each tartlet requires and you won’t have to worry about over-filling one and under-filling another.

Use your fingers to press one portion of the shortbread into one of the tartlet tins. Aim for an even layer of shortbread across the base and up the sides of the tin, leaving a small amount of overhang at the top edge. This doesn’t need to be perfect, as we’ll smooth everything out later, once the tarts come out of the oven.

Use a rolling pin to roll over the top of each tartlet tin. This will remove the excess shortbread dough and leave a super neat, flat edge on the tartlet shells.

The final step before the tartlet shells can be baked is to prick them all over with a fork. The shortbread will still puff up a little in the oven, but this allows the steam to escape and helps to minimise the puffing, so don’t skip it!

Once all of your tartlet shells are filled with shortbread and ready to go, collect all of the offcuts and bring them together with your hands. These offcuts can be formed into a few little chocolate biscuits, which can be baked alongside the tartlets as chef’s treats. Don’t be tempted to press the offcuts back into the tartlets— you want that extra space for the fillings!

Baking the Shortbread

Arrange the tartlets (and the extra biscuits!) on a baking tray, then bake them in the middle of the oven at 175°C (conventional, not fan) for 12-15 minutes, until the shortbread is puffed and the surface looks dry. If you’re still waiting for your oven to preheat, I’d recommend putting the tartlets into the fridge to keep them nice and cold until you can bake them.

At this point, the shortbread won’t resemble a tart shell. However, while it’s warm, it will be soft enough to manipulate, so you can use a metal dessertspoon/cup measure to gently press down on the base to flatten it back down and against the sides to sharpen them up and make it resemble a tart shell once more. This sounds fiddly, but it’s actually so quick and easy to do (and I would still take it over rolling out pastry!).

Repeat this for all of your tarts, so that you’re left with perfect little cocoa shortbread tartlet shells, ready to be filled! Set them aside to cool slightly while you make the espresso caramel filling.

Making the Espresso Caramel

I know, I know, the word ‘caramel’ can send even the most confident of bakers into a spiral, but I promise, this one’s easy! No sugar thermometers, no convoluted temperature tests, just everything in a pot and a bit of light stirring.

I like to use a saucepan with a pouring spout for this, because it makes it super easy to pour the hot caramel into the tartlet shells when it’s ready. If you have one, I’d definitely recommend it.

Place the butter, condensed milk, dark muscovado sugar and golden syrup into the saucepan and set it over a low heat.

Stir the mixture every now and then until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

While this is happening, dissolve the instant espresso powder in a splash of hot water and set it aside, ready for later.

Once the mixture is smooth, turn the heat up slightly to medium-low and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. The mixture has a tendency to stick, so you need to stir more frequently at this stage to stop it from burning.

Allow the mixture to boil for a couple of minutes, until it’s nice and thick. I realise this is a little vague, but don’t stress about it: a minute or two of boiling and stirring and you’ll be absolutely fine!

Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the dissolved instant espresso powder until it is completely incorporated.

Adding the espresso at this stage ensures that the coffee doesn’t burn while the sugar boils, which would make everything a little too bitter (and much less tasty!).

With that, the caramel layer is ready! Pour it into the tartlet shells, filling each tartlet about 3/4 full (this is to leave space for the ganache layer later).

Set the tartlets aside at room temperature to cool completely (about 30 minutes to an hour) before making the ganache layer.

Making the Ganache

The final layer of the tarts is a simple, dark chocolate ganache, with the addition of a not-so-secret ingredient to make it extra shiny and help it slice really nicely when served. This ingredient is glucose syrup (also known as liquid glucose). If you can’t find glucose syrup, you can use golden syrup instead (though this has a slightly more intense, caramel-y sweetness, so I would recommend using a slightly darker chocolate to balance this out if you do).

You can make the ganache in the microwave or on the hob. I tend to use the microwave, because it’s so easy!

Microwave Method

Finely chop the dark chocolate, then put it into a microwaveable jug with the cream and the glucose syrup.

Heat this in the microwave on the lowest heat setting in 30 second bursts, stirring in between each burst, until the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth, shiny ganache.

Hob Method

Finely chop the dark chocolate and place it into a heatproof jug.

Place the cream and glucose syrup into a small saucepan, then set over a medium heat and bring to just below a simmer, stirring frequently to ensure that it does not catch.

Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and leave to sit for a minute.

After a minute, stir the mixture until the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth, shiny ganache.

Whichever method you use, once the ganache is ready, pour it over the caramel layer on each of the tartlets, filling them right up to the top, so that the ganache is level with the top edge of the shortbread crust. Give the tarts a gentle shake from side to side to smooth out the ganache layer and ensure that it completely covers the caramel layer below.

Transfer the tartlets to the fridge and allow them to chill for at least 2 hours (though they can be stored in the fridge like this for 2-3 days: the espresso flavour will get even more intense the longer they chill!) before serving.

Serving Instructions

When you’re ready to serve the tarts, carefully remove them from their tins. I find the best way to do this is to gently pull the sides of the tin away from the shortbread all the way around to loosen it, then set the tin on a small jar/tin and press down gently on the top edge to release it, making sure to apply any pressure as evenly as possible around the circumference of the tin. Then, hold the tartlet upside down and use a small, sharp knife to pry the base of the tin off the bottom of the tartlet.

Just before serving, sprinkle the tartlets with a little flaky sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel, for extra fanciness!). You can either slice the tartlets into tiny slices (SO CUTE!) or you can serve them whole for extra decadence. If you are slicing them, I recommend using a small, sharp knife and wiping it off in between each cut so that you can see the pretty layers.

Don’t be tempted to sprinkle the tartlets with salt ahead of time, while they’re still in the fridge, because I find that the salt starts dissolving and looks a lot less pretty if you do this.

Recipe

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Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets

Inspired by the character of Araminta Gun in Bridgerton: Season 4, these tartlets feature a chocolate shortbread crust, an espresso caramel filling and a shiny, dark chocolate ganache layer, all topped off with a sprinkling of sea salt.

Course Dessert

Keyword Caramel, Chocolate, Espresso, Millionaire’s Shortbread

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 9 tartlets

Equipment

• 9 x 10cm diameter tartlet tins

Ingredients

For the chocolate shortbread:

• 75 g caster sugar
• 225 g plain flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 180 g salted butter, cold and diced, plus extra for greasing (see Note 1).

For the espresso caramel layer:

• 100 g salted butter (see Note 1).
• 1 x 397g can condensed milk
• 100 g dark muscovado sugar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1/2 tbsp instant espresso powder, dissolved in a splash of hot water.

For the ganache layer:

• 90 g dark chocolate, finely chopped (see Note 2).
• 180 ml double cream
• 1/2 tsp glucose syrup (see Note 3).

To finish:

• Flaky sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel, but any sea salt would work).

Instructions

Make the chocolate shortbread tartlet shells:

• Preheat the oven to 175°C (conventional oven, not fan). Grease 9 tartlet tins lightly with butter and set aside.
• Place all of the shortbread ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until a dough forms (this will take a bit of time— just keep processing and it will come together! Don't be tempted to add any water.).
• Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface and finish bringing it together with your hands. Divide the dough into 9 equal portions, one for each tartlet tin.
• Press a ball of dough into one of the tartlet tins, aiming to get an even layer of shortbread right across the bottom and up the sides of the tin. Leave a small amount of overhang at the top of the tin, then use a rolling pan to roll over the top of the tin to remove the extra dough and leave a super neat edge. The dough offcuts can be used to make a few little chocolate biscuits that can be baked alongside the tartlets.
• Prick the dough on the base of each tartlet all over with a fork, then bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until the surface looks dry (the shortbread will still puff up quite a bit, but that's okay— we'll fix it in the next step!).
• As soon as the tartlet shells come out of the oven, use a dessertspoon/metal cup measure to gently press the shortbread down on the base and around the sides. The shortbread will still be quite soft when it's warm, so you can easily reshape it to make the perfect little tart shells.
• Leave the tarts to one side to cool slightly while you make the caramel layer.

Make the espresso caramel layer:

• Place the butter, condensed milk, dark muscovado sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan (preferably one with a pouring spout, if you have one). Set over low heat and stir every now and then until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
• Turn the heat up slightly to medium-low and allow the mixture to boil, stirring frequently, for a couple of minutes, until thick.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the dissolved instant espresso powder until completely incorporated.
• Pour the hot caramel into the tartlet shells, filling each tartlet about 3/4 full (you need to leave room for the ganache layer). Set the tartlets aside at room temperature to cool completely (about 30 minutes to 1 hour).

Make the ganache layer:

• Once the tartlets are completely cool, make the ganache layer. Place all of the ganache ingredients into a microwaveable jug and heat on the lowest setting in 30 second bursts, stirring in between each burst, until the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth, shiny ganache. If you don't have a microwave, bring the cream and glucose syrup to just below a simmer in a saucepan, then pour over the chopped chocolate, leave to stand for a minute, then stir until smooth.
• Pour the ganache onto the cooled tartlets, filling them right up to the top, so that the ganache sits level with the top of the shortbread crust. Give the tarts a gentle shake from side to side to make sure the ganache layer is smooth and completely covers the caramel layer below.
• Transfer the tarts to the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. The tarts can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days, so you can make them ahead of time (the espresso flavour will also get more intense as they chill).

To serve:

• Carefully remove the tartlets from their tins. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and serve.

Notes

1. You can use unsalted butter instead: use the same amount but add a pinch or two of fine sea salt.
2. I used a 54% dark chocolate, which isn’t super dark, but works really well with the other flavours. If you want a slightly more bitter, intense flavour, use a darker chocolate (a 70% would work well!).
3. Adding a small amount of glucose syrup to the ganache makes it super shiny and helps it slice really nicely. Glucose syrup is a bit of a specialist ingredient though so, if you don’t have it to hand, you can use golden syrup instead. Golden syrup has a slightly more intense, caramel-y flavour and sweetness, so, if you do this, so you might want to consider using a darker chocolate to balance it out.

The first recipe in this series is for these Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits: my tribute to the Li Sisters, Rosamund and Posy, who made their debuts in Season 4.

The Inspiration

Season 4 of Bridgerton is, at its heart, a Cinderella story. As part of that, it follows the oft-used approach of having one of ‘Cinderella’s’ stepsisters be, well, nicer than the other: in this case, Posy is an absolute sweetheart and Rosamund is… I guess, whatever the opposite of that is.

Do you guys remember that old nursery rhyme that says something about girls being made of “sugar, spice and everything nice”? These two characters really remind me of it: Rosamund feels very spice and Posy feels very sugar. The official Bridgerton Instagram account ALSO referenced sugar and spice with regard to these characters (you can see the post here!), which made me feel extremely validated, so I figured that the whole sugar & spice thing would be a great concept for this recipe.

Last Christmas, I made Swedish Schackrutor for the first time as part of my Baking Around the World series. These tiny shortbread biscuits have a 2×2 checkerboard pattern, made with a combination of vanilla and chocolate dough. I thought these checkerboard biscuits would be a perfect base for this recipe: two sisters, two completely difference personalities and two doughs, all coming together to make one (delicious) biscuit!

When it came to deciding on the flavours, I was partially influenced by the whole sugar-and-spice vibe, but also partly by colour. In much of the promotional media for Season 4, Rosamund and Posy are seen wearing pink and green floral-print dresses: both fabrics feature the same pattern, but the colours are inverted. This fit so well with the checkerboard biscuit idea, I just had to make these biscuits pink and green, which heavily inspired the resulting flavours. I also love that these biscuits feel super Bridgerton: they’re colourful and fun, but they’re also fancy and delicate.

I’m not opposed to using food colouring, but, if I can, I prefer to use more natural alternatives. These biscuits are food-colouring free, tinted pink and green by the freeze-dried strawberry powder and matcha powder, respectively. Strawberry and matcha not only fit the pink-and-green colour palette perfectly, but they’re also a really delicious pairing, as evidenced by the strawberry matcha lattes that went viral over the past year (or two years? Or five years? I’m not even sure…)! I really liked the idea of these biscuits referencing the time period in which Bridgerton: Season 4 was released, as well as being inspired by the Regency setting of the show, so I ran with the flavour combo.

I did, however, want to incorporate a spicy element into the biscuits, so I opted to pair the strawberry flavour with pink peppercorns. I’ve actually heard of people pairing strawberries with black pepper before, so I figured pink peppercorns weren’t too much of a stretch: they’re milder (though they still bring a little bit of warmth to the dough), with a slight citrus-y note, and fit the pink colour palette perfectly, so I figured they’d be a great option here!

Honestly, I’m not usually the biggest fan of matcha (sometimes I just find it a little too earthy?), but I had a matcha panna cotta once that I absolutely loved and I think the difference was the presence of vanilla in the recipe: it really brings out the sweetness of the matcha without overpowering its flavour. Therefore, I opted to include a small amount of vanilla bean paste in the matcha dough, to make it a little more sweet and a little more delicious (for me, at least!).

Ingredients

The basic biscuit dough is a simple shortbread, using the classic 1-2-3 ratio of caster sugar-butter-plain flour (the same base that I used for my Schackrutor recipe). I’ve used unsalted butter here, but you can use salted butter if you prefer.

This recipe doesn’t make a huge batch of biscuits (they’re pretty tiny!), but you can easily scale it up to make more if you want.

To flavour the doughs, I used the following 4 ingredients:

• Freeze dried strawberries

It turns out that freeze dried strawberries aren’t as readily available as freeze dried raspberries in the supermarkets near me (who knew?), so I purchased mine on Amazon. They’re a great way of getting loads of strawberry flavour into bakes, particularly ones like shortbread that can’t handle too much additional liquid.

I bought freeze dried strawberries slices and ground them into a fine powder myself, using a mortar and pestle. If you can find them in powder form, you can absolutely buy them like that instead.

• Pink peppercorns

Surprisingly, pink peppercorns are not related to the classic black peppercorns we know and love (I’m lying, black pepper and I do not see eye to eye). Pink peppercorns are actually a dried berry! However, because they have a pepper-y flavour, they’re often grouped together with the other peppers of the world. Along with their relatively mild, but still warming, pepperiness, they have an almost citrus-y flavour, which works really well with the fruitiness of the strawberries and the earthiness of the matcha powder.

You can of course leave the pink peppercorns out to make these into Strawberry Matcha biscuits. I’d probably still keep the vanilla in if you do this, just to really highlight the matcha flavour.

• Matcha powder

Make sure you get a high quality, pure matcha powder (not one of the flavoured alternatives) for this recipe. It can be quite expensive, but you don’t need much at all for this recipe.

• Vanilla bean paste

I like to use vanilla bean paste in these biscuits because it adds plenty of vanilla flavour without adding as much liquid as regular vanilla extract would (and without the faff of dealing with a vanilla bean). As I mentioned earlier, I find that adding vanilla to matcha desserts really brings out the sweetness of the matcha, so I definitely think it’s a worthwhile addition to this recipe!

How to Make Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits

Making the base dough for these checkerboard biscuits is super easy: you just put the ingredients (sugar, butter and flour) into a food processor (I use a mini one) and pulse/process until everything comes together. That’s it!

Things get a little more complex when it comes to flavouring and shaping the biscuits, but it’s still pretty straightforward once you know what you’re doing.

First things first, split the dough into two equal portions. I like to use a weighing scale for this to make sure that both halves of the dough are exactly the same size.

Add the matcha powder and the vanilla bean paste to one half of the dough. To the other half, add the freeze-dried strawberry powder and the ground pink peppercorns.

Working with one dough at a time, knead in the flavourings until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough and the colour is even.

Once you have both doughs ready to go, you need to split both of them up into smaller portions. Again, I like to use a weighing scale for this to ensure the portions are all the same. Start by dividing each ball of dough into 3 equal portions.

Then, divide 2 of each of those 3 portions in half again. You should be left with 1 large ball and 4 small balls of each dough flavour. The smaller balls will form the checkerboard body of the biscuits, while the larger ball will be rolled out and wrapped around the biscuits to form the border.

Use your hands and a bench scraper (or a clean, metal ruler: anything that will help you to really square off the edges of the dough) to shape each of the smaller balls into rectangular logs (you want the cross section of each log to be approximately 1 cm x 1 cm), making sure the logs are as equal as possible in length. You should end up with four green logs and four pink logs.

Carefully press each green log up against one of the pink logs, making sure they are stuck together, but being careful not to squish the dough out of shape too much.

Place one pair of logs on top of another pair of logs, positioning it so the top green section sits on top of the bottom pink section and vice versa. This creates the checkerboard pattern. Again, press them together, but try not to distort the shape too much. Repeat this process for the second pair of logs, so that you have two short cuboids featuring a 2×2 checkerboard pattern.

Now, it’s time to wrap the biscuits in their final dough layer! This gives the biscuits a really pretty border and makes them feel that little bit fancier (if you’d prefer to make the biscuits sans border, follow the instructions on my Swedish Schackrutor post instead— the dividing of the dough is a little less complicated if you do it that way too!).

Take one of the large dough balls and roll it out between two pieces of baking paper (you don’t want to use flour at this stage, because it will prevent the dough from sticking to the biscuit logs, so the baking paper is there to stop it from sticking to your work surface/rolling pin!). Aim for a rectangle the slightly wider than the length of one of your checkerboard logs, and long enough to wrap around the whole thing (approx. 8cm). Try to keep the thickness as even as possible, so that the border looks super neat.

Peel off the top layer of baking paper, then place one of the logs onto the dough, positioning it at one end.

Use a sharp knife to trim along the back of the log, as well as down both sides, flush with the edges of the log. This will make the final dough layer really neat.

Use the baking paper to help you roll the log down the length of the dough, wrapping it up in the dough as you go and pressing the edges gently to ensure the dough sticks to itself, until you’ve covered the whole thing like a little Battenberg. Trim off any excess dough at the end.

Repeat this process for the second log, using the other dough flavour (the final ball!) to cover it. Wrap both of the biscuit logs tightly in clingfilm, then place into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. This will firm the dough up, so that you can slice the logs without distorting your hard-earned checkerboard pattern.

There’s no need to throw away the dough offcuts— roll them all together and form them into a couple of round biscuits (top left in the photo above!). Aim to make these biscuits a similar size to the cross section of your biscuit logs (approx. 3-4cm in diameter). You can bake them alongside the ‘official’ biscuits as little chef’s treats later!

Once the logs have chilled, unwrap them and use a sharp knife to cut them into slices, approx. 5-7mm thick.

Space the biscuits out on a baking tray, lined with baking paper (they won’t spread too much, so just leave a little gap between them). Bake them at 180°C (conventional oven, not fan) for 6-8 minutes, until they’re just turning golden around the edges (this is usually easier to see in the strawberry-flavoured sections than the matcha ones!).

Allow the biscuits to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before enjoying.

Leftover biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days before they start going a little soft.

Recipe

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Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits

Inspired by the Li Sisters in Bridgerton: Season 4, these shortbread biscuits are the perfect blend of sugar and spice. Two doughs, one flavoured with matcha and vanilla, the other with strawberry and pink peppercorns, come together to make a delicious, checkerboard-pattern treat

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Matcha, Pink peppercorns, Shortbread, strawberry, Vanilla

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours

Servings 16 biscuits

Ingredients

• 25 g caster sugar
• 50 g unsalted butter, diced and softened.
• 75 g plain flour
• 1/2 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder (see Note 1).
• 1/2 tsp pink peppercorns, finely ground.
• 1/2 tsp matcha powder
• 1/8 tsp vanilla bean paste

Instructions

• Place the sugar, butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor (I use a mini one). Pulse/process until a dough forms.
• Use a weighing scale to divide the dough in half, then place each half into a separate bowl. Knead the freeze dried strawberry powder and ground pink peppercorns into one of the dough halves, then knead the matcha powder and vanilla bean paste into the other.
• Divide each ball of dough into 3 equal pieces. Then, divide 2 of the 3 balls in half, so that you are left with 1 large ball and 4 smaller, equal balls of each colour.
• Use your hands and a bench scraper (or a clean metal ruler/anything that can be used to square off the edges of the dough) to form each of the smaller balls into short, rectangular logs (the cross section should be about 1 cm x 1 cm) of the same length. You should end up with 4 green logs and 4 pink logs.
• Press one pink log alongside one green log. Make sure they are stuck together, but try not to distort the shape too much. Repeat this for the remaining logs.
• Press one pair of logs on top of another, positioning them so that the top green section sits on the bottom pink section and vice versa. Repeat this for the second pair of logs, so that you end up with two larger, rectangular logs with a 2×2 checkerboard pattern.
• Roll out one of the larger dough balls between two sheets of baking paper. Don't add any flour at this stage. Aim to roll the dough into a rough rectangle, slightly wider than the length of one log and a little over 8cm long, so that it can be used to wrap all the way around one of the logs.
• Peel off the top sheet of baking paper, then place one of the logs on top of the rolled out dough, at one end. Use a sharp knife to trim off the excess dough along the back of the log and down both sides, flush with the edges of the log.
• Using the baking paper to help you, roll the log down the length of the rolled out dough, pressing gently to help the dough stick to itself, until it is completely covered, like a Battenberg. Trim off any excess dough, then repeat the process for the second log with the final, large ball of dough (in the other colour).
• Any offcuts can be rolled together and pressed into little round biscuits to be baked alongside the checkerboard biscuits later.
• Wrap both biscuit logs tightly in clingfilm, then place them into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. This will firm them up, so that you can slice them without distorting the checkerboard pattern.
• After 2 hours, preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan). Slice each log into biscuits about 5-7mm thick, then space them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. The biscuits won't spread very much, so you don't need to leave heaps of room between them.
• Bake the biscuits for 6-8 minutes, until just starting to turn golden around the edges. Allow them to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling before serving. The biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days before they start going a little soft.

Notes

1. If you buy the slices of freeze dried strawberries, this works out at approximately 2g (or 5ish slices). Grind the slices into a fine powder using either a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. 

If you missed the first 5 parts of the series, you can find them here:

• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #1: Introduction
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #2: Making the Brick Blanket
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #3: Adding the Surface Crochet Vines
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #4: Making the Rose Pieces
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #5: Making the Wisteria Pieces

A Note on Child Safety

Obviously, because this is a baby blanket, it’s important to make it as safe as possible for young children. When developing this pattern, child safety was always at the forefront of my mind, so I have used specific techniques for sewing on each of the appliqué elements to make sure everything is attached as securely as possible. Having said this, anything handmade will only be as safe and secure as you make it- if any elements are not sewn on securely, they will pose a serious choking hazard. Additionally, accidents can happen- appliqué elements may become loose after repeated use, or as a result of the wear-and-tear of daily life, so, just to be on the safe side I would not recommend leaving a young child/baby with this blanket unsupervised.

Equipment

To assemble the blanket, you will need the following equipment:

• All of the appliqué elements (i.e. the roses, rose leaves and wisteria pieces from parts #4 and #5).
• Sewing needle (with an eye large enough to fit DK weight yarn).
• Scissors.
• Crochet hook (optional: I used this to help position the elements before I stitched them down, to ensure I was happy with the overall look before attaching anything permanently).

That’s it! If you’ve left long ends on each of the appliqué elements, as instructed in the specific posts (one pink end for each rose piece, one dark green end for each rose leaf and two light green ends for the wisteria pieces), you shouldn’t need any additional yarn at this stage. This means that you will end up with fewer ends to darn in (a major win, if you ask me) and the appliqué elements will be attached more securely.

Positioning the Elements

Before you start sewing, it’s a good idea to lay out all of the elements on the blanket, so you can get an idea of how the finished blanket will look. You can absolutely just lay the elements on top, but I found that all of the loose ends lying on top of the blanket made it difficult to visualise the finished product. This is where the crochet hook comes in! Lay the elements out where you want them, then pull the ends through to the back of the blanket using the crochet hook (the size of the hook doesn’t really matter- use whatever you have to hand). That way, you’ll get a much better idea of how the finished blanket will look.

The Layout

You can attach the appliqué elements in whatever layout you choose, but, if you want to mimic my blanket, here’s a rough overview of how I did it:

The Wisteria

The wisteria pieces are grouped together in clusters of 2 (1 long piece, 1 short piece). You should have 10 long wisteria pieces and 10 small, so you’ll end up with 10 wisteria clusters around the perimeter of the blanket. Start by placing one wisteria cluster in each of the four corners. Then place one wisteria cluster in the centre of each short side. Finally, space 2 wisteria clusters evenly down each long side of the blanket. Like this, you should have ten, equally-spaced wisteria clusters all around the perimeter of the blanket.

When it comes to positioning the individual wisteria pieces, make sure that each wisteria piece sits right on top of (or up against) one of the brown, surface crochet ‘vines’. This is important because that surface crochet is supposed to mimic the wisteria branch, so the wisteria flowers need to look as if they are growing from it! Make sure that the leafy end of the wisteria pieces sits closest to the branch, as pictured. I opted to position all of the clusters so that they were pointing inwards, towards the centre of the blanket, as if they are hanging down from the branch.

The Roses

Each of the spaces between the wisteria clusters is filled with a rose cluster, so you end up with a continuous, alternating pattern all around the perimeter of the blanket: wisteria, rose, wisteria, rose, etc.

For the most part, rose clusters consist of two rose pieces (1 large, 1 small) and one rose leaf piece. The only two exceptions to this are the clusters in the centre of each long side of the blanket: these rose clusters consist of three rose pieces (2 large, 1 small) and two rose leaf pieces. You should end up with 8 x 2-rose clusters and 2 x 3-rose clusters.

Much like how the wisteria pieces should look as if they are growing out of the brown surface crochet ‘vine’, the rose clusters should sit on the green surface crochet ‘vine’, so they look like they are growing from it. The roses can be placed in any orientation, but the leaves should always be positioned so that the round end sits on the green vine, while the pointed end points away from it.

Sewing on the Wisteria Pieces

Each wisteria piece should have two long, green ends left attached for sewing onto the blanket. One end will be at the base of the petals, while the other will be at the top of the petals (i.e. the base of the leaves). The end at the base of the petals will be used to attach the purple part of the wisteria to the blanket, while the other end will be used to secure the leaves. This will add an extra layer of security, while also giving you the freedom to position both the petals and the leaves however you would like.

Let’s start with attaching the petals. Each wisteria piece is sewn on individually, one at a time. I prefer to start with a long wisteria piece and create an organic shape with that, then move onto a shorter piece and ‘nestle’ it alongside the first piece. After both petal pieces are attached, I stitch down both of the leaves. We’ll be using a simple running stitch to stitch the central, green chain that runs through all of the petals to the blanket.

Thread the petal end onto your needle, then insert the needle through the blanket, from front to back, as pictured, where you want the bottom of your wisteria piece to sit.

Bring the needle back up in a slightly different spot, so that it comes through the green starting chain, close to the end.

Bring the needle back down to the other side of the blanket, bringing it back through the green starting chain, a little further along the wisteria piece.

Keep going, weaving the needle up and down through the blanket and the starting chain, until you come to the end of the petals. I prefer to wait until I’ve attached all the elements before weaving in the ends, just in case I want to change any positions, but you can sew them in whenever you want. For the neatest finish, I recommend bringing the end to the front of the work and darning it into the starting chain underneath the petals. This way, the petals will hide it from the front and the back will still look nice and neat.

Once you’ve sewn the first, long wisteria piece on, you can attach the second, shorter wisteria piece. The two pieces should sit snugly alongside each other, to give the illusion of a single, full wisteria bloom. Attach the second wisteria piece in exactly the same manner as the first, using a running stitch that is worked through the central green chain.

At this point, you should have one wisteria cluster with all the petals stitched down. Now, it’s time to attach the leaves. Attaching the leaves will add an extra layer of safety to the blanket and allows you to control how they sit.

I like to stitch the leaves down in a wide ‘v’ shape, so that the top of the wisteria petals sits within the leaves.

Use the same running stitch technique as the petal section for the leaves. When attaching the leaves, I like to run my stitches right down the centre of the leaf piece, so that the leaves on either side can still move and stand up, to make them look more natural.

Start by threading the end (the one from the base of the leaf piece/top of the petals) onto a needle, then pull the needle through to the back of the blanket, where you want the top of the leaf piece to sit.

Bring the needle back up through the blanket, coming up through the centre of the leaf piece, near the top edge.

Bring the needle back down, slightly further along the centre line of the leaf piece to make the next stitch.

Repeat this until you have stitched all the way down the centre of the leaf, stopping just before the end, so that the final little leaf is left free to curl up/move. When sewing in the end, I like to darn it into the leaf piece itself, again, to keep the back of the blanket looking tidy.

Repeat this process for both leaves, then you’ll have your first, completely attached, wisteria cluster! Repeat for all ten of the clusters, aiming to keep the shapes of the petals and leaves as organic and natural-looking as you can.

Sewing on the Rose Leaves

The technique for attaching the rose leaves is exactly the same as for the wisteria leaves. The aim is to run a line of stitching down the very centre of the leaf, leaving the sides and pointed top free to give the leaf some dimension. The long end that we left on the leaf pieces should sit at the base of each leaf (i.e. the rounded end, not the pointy end). We’ll use this to attach the leaves to the blanket.

I like to sew the rose leaves on first, before the roses themselves, so that the roses can overlap the leaf slightly- it just makes everything look a bit more natural.

Start by threading the end onto the needle, then bring it down through the blanket, from front to back, where you want the base of the leaf to sit (i.e. on the green surface crochet ‘vine’).

Come back up through the blanket, from back to front this time, a little bit further down the centre of the leaf, sticking to that centre line. Because of how we crocheted these leaves, it’s pretty easy to see where that centre line is, so use that as your guide.

Then, bring the needle back down through the centre of the leaf and the blanket beneath.

Keep bringing the needle up and down, through the work, until you come to just before the end of the leaf. Leaving the pointed end unattached will help the leaf to look more organic.

Now, you have an attached leaf! As before, I like to leave all the sewing in of ends until I’ve attached everything, but, when you do sew in the ends for the leaves, try to sew them into the leaves themselves, keeping the ends at the back of the leaves, if possible.

Sewing on the Roses

The roses are, unfortunately, the trickiest element to attach to the blanket, but, once you get the hang of it, it shouldn’t take too long to attach each one. Each rose piece should have one, long end for sewing in at the back. The aim is to use this end to work a running stitch all around the base of the rose, in a rough circle. This technique will provide the most strength and security.

Start by threading the end onto your needle, then bring the needle through to the back of the work, anchoring the rose wherever you want it to sit.

Next, bring the needle back up through the work, slightly further around the circumference of the rose, and catch a few stitches from the lower side of the rose as you do this.

Bring the needle back down through to the other side of the blanket, slightly further around the circumference of the rose again, catching a few more stitches from the lower side of the rose as you go.

Work all the way around the rose like this, running the stitches through both the blanket and the rose as you go, until you have stitched a wide circle all around the rose. The wider your circle of stitching, the more secure the rose will be. Don’t go too wide, though, or you’ll be able to see the stitches.

Ta-da! Now you have one attached rose!

Attach any other roses in the cluster in the exact same way, with the circle of stitching. However, when you come to the area where the new rose abuts the old rose, push your needle horizontally through the side of the first rose, as shown (you’re not going through the blanket itself at this stage, just the rose!).

Then do the same thing to the new rose, pushing the needle through horizontally, before continuing on your way around the rose, stitching it to the blanket again.

These two stitches just help to pull the roses together a little bit. This is optional, but will help to make the rose clusters look more organic and less like two separate roses, sitting near each other.

Now you’ll have a perfect little rose cluster! Repeat this process for all of the remaining clusters, then sew in all the ends (once you are happy with your finished blanket, of course!). As with the other elements, I recommend bringing the rose ends through to the front of the work and sewing them into the underside of the roses, for the neatest finish.

Final Thoughts

And… that’s it! Once everything’s sewn on, you’ll have your very own, Bridgerton House Baby Blanket ready to be used!

These instructions may seem a little overwhelming, but once you get into the swing of things, the sewing-up part of the process will go really quickly. Of course, you don’t have to follow my instructions- if you have a preferred method of sewing on embellishments, or just think of a better way to do it, you can absolutely go ahead and do that!

In other news…

Now that this pattern is finally complete, I’ve put it on Ravelry! You can find it here (and you can check out some of my other designs here, if you’re interested!).

I’ve had so much fun designing and developing this pattern for you over the past couple of years- I’m so glad it’s finally yours in its entirety! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Gemma

xxx

• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #1: Introduction
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #2: Making the Brick Blanket
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #3: Adding the Surface Crochet Vines
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #4: Making the Rose Pieces

Crochet Wisteria: The Basics

Each wisteria section on the blanket is made up of two individual wisteria pieces, one smaller, one larger, which are attached to the blanket alongside one another to create a tapered, organic shape.

Each individual wisteria piece consists of a central, green stem, two-tone purple petals and a sprig of green wisteria leaves. The leaves are crocheted immediately after working the starting chain, using the same yarn thread, without cutting it in between. This means there are fewer ends to sew in, but also adds an extra layer of safety to the blanket (as there are fewer small, separate embellishments). The petals are crocheted in a continuous spiral around the central stem, switching from the darker purple shade to the paler purple shade about halfway up. The technique is a little unusual, but is relatively simple to work up, once you get the hang of it.

The Starting Chain (or ‘Stem’)

Each wisteria piece begins with a green starting chain, which will form the main ‘stem’ of the wisteria blossoms. The important thing to remember with this starting chain is that you must use a larger hook than you would typically use for DK weight yarn- I typically use a 4mm hook for Stylecraft Special DK, so I have used a 5mm hook for this starting chain. This is because, when you crochet into the starting chain in a spiral for the petals, it pulls the starting chain much tighter than if you were crocheting into it in the usual manner. Using a larger hook helps to keep the starting chain nice and loose, so your wisteria pieces stay flat.

The length of your starting chain determines the length of your finished wisteria piece. For the smaller wisteria pieces, you will start by chaining 14. For the larger wisteria pieces, you will start by chaining 19.

Much like with the rose pieces from the last post, it’s important to leave a long end (approx. 25cm) at the start of your starting chain, for attaching the wisteria pieces to the blanket later on.

Crocheting Integrated Wisteria Leaves

I specifically formulated the pattern for these wisteria pieces to minimise both the amount of ends that needed to be sewn in (because sewing in ends is the WORST) and the amount of separate, small pieces that needed to be individually attached to the blanket (because this is, after all, a baby blanket and needs to be as safe as possible). Because of this, I integrated the wisteria leaves into the same pieces as the wisteria stem/petals. Although this does require a little bit of mid-crochet hook switching, it does mean that there are fewer ends and fewer separate pieces, so it’s really for the best!

The leaves are created using a combination of chains and slip stitches. The same pattern is used for both wisteria pieces, large or small. The size of the leaf piece does not change, irrespective of whether the starting chain consists of 14 or 19 chains.

The wisteria leaves are crocheted immediately after the starting chain is worked. Once you have completed the starting chain (on the larger, 5mm hook), don’t cut the working yarn. Pull the loop out a little, so it doesn’t unravel mid-switch, then remove your 5mm hook and replace it with a 3mm hook (as shown above). Using a finer hook for the leaves helps to give them more definition.

Start by chaining 6 more stitches, using the smaller hook. This will form the start of the leaf section. I’ve marked the end of my starting chain with a stitch marker, to make it easier for you to see what’s going on, but it’s not necessary.

Next, slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook.

Then slip stitch into the next 2 stitches. This creates one, 3-stitch leaf.

Now, we’ll make the next leaf. Start by chaining 5, then, again, slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook. Finally, slip stitch into the next 2 chains. This creates a second 3-stitch leaf.

Now we’ll make a third 3-stitch leaf. Chain 5, slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook, then slip stitch into the next 2 chains.

Now we’ll make a smaller, 2-stitch leaf. Chain 4 this time, then slip stitch into the second chain from the hook. Slip stitch into the next chain to finish this leaf. This finishes off the left-hand side of the sprig. As you can see, it consists of three 3-stitch leaves and one 2-stitch leaf.

Now, we’ll make the 1-stitch leaf that will sit at the very bottom of the sprig. Chain 3, then slip stitch into the 2nd chain from the hook. This completes the leaf.

From now on, we’ll be working back up the length of the sprig, creating the leaves on the right-hand side. The leaves on the right-hand side will be a mirror image of the ones on the left.

Start by slip stitching to the next stitch, to get to the right position to form the first leaf.

Ch 3, then slip stitch into 2nd chain from the hook. Slip stitch into the next chain to create another 2-stitch leaf, opposite the 2-stitch leaf on the other side.

Skip the next stitch (i.e. the base of the 2-stitch leaf on the other side).

Then slip stitch to the next chain to secure the leaf to the central train.

Make a 3-stitch leaf by chaining 4, slip stitching into the second chain from the hook, then slip stitching into the next 2 chains.

Again, to attach the leaf to the central chain, skip the next stitch (the base of the 3-stitch leaf on the other side) and slip stitch to the next chain.

Repeat this process to make another 3-stitch leaf. After, attach the leaf to the central chain by skipping the next stitch (the base of the 3-stitch leaf on the other side) and slip stitching to the next chain.

Make a final 3-stitch leaf by chaining 4, slip stitching into the second chain from the hook, then slip stitching into the next 2 chains to finish off the stem

Once you’ve done this, you should have a symmetrical sprig of wisteria leaves that is completely attached to your initial starting chain. Cut the green yarn now, leaving a long end again for sewing up (approx. 15-20cm). We will be using the long end from the start of the starting chain to attach the petal section of the wisteria piece to the blanket, while this end will be used to attach the wisteria leaves to the blanket.

Crocheting Around a Central Chain

Once you have the starting chain ‘stem’ and the integrated sprig of leaves, it’s time to add the petals. This is where things get a little… unusual, so stay with me! Essentially, all you’re doing is crocheting into each chain down the stem, but twisting the stem as you go. By doing this, you’ll end up crocheting a spiral of petals that winds it way around that starting chain ‘stem’, mimicking the conical, 3D shape of a wisteria sprig.

We’re going to start at the bottom of the wisteria sprig (i.e., the opposite end of the stem to the leaf). We’ll start crocheting with the darker purple yarn (I’m using Stylecraft Special DK, in the shade Wisteria) and a 3mm hook.

Small Wisteria Piece

Let’s start with a small wisteria piece. Start by laying out a 14-chain stem piece in front of you, with the leaf on the left-hand side and the ‘v’s of the starting chain facing up at you.

Insert your hook through the middle of the first chain, from back to front, as shown in the photo above.

Using the purple yarn, make the first petal in this stitch. Chain 1, then work 2 dc into the same stitch.

Because of how we inserted our hook into that first stitch, you’ll now be looking at the back of your starting chain. Don’t twist the chain, just insert your hook into the next stitch in exactly the same way as before: through the middle, from back to front (as you see it now), as indicated by the needle here.

Slip stitch into this chain.

Then make another (ch 1, 2dc) petal into it as well.

Again, you’ll notice the chain has turned over again, and you’ll now be looking at the front of the starting chain. Again, we’re going to work into the next chain by inserting our hook through the middle of it, from back to front.

Slip stitch to the chain, then work another (ch 1, 2dc) petal into it. You should now have 3 petals.

Repeat the whole process, continuing to insert your hook into new chains from back to front, twice more, for a total of 5 petals.

Now we’re going to start increasing the size of the petals, to give that slight conical shape to the sprig. While the petal instructions will change, the hook insertion method stays the same. That is, you should always be inserting your hook through the middle of the chain, from back to front. After working odd-number petals, you should be looking at the back (bumpy side) of the chain. After working even-number petals, you should be looking at the front (v-pattern) side of the chain. This can be a helpful rule to remember to keep you on track, in case your chain gets twisted and you forget where you are!

For the sixth petal, work the following pattern into the next chain: (Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc).

Slip stitch into the next stitch, then repeat this process once more, for a second medium-sized petal (or petal #7).

At this point, cut the darker purple yarn and attach the paler purple yarn (I am using Stylecraft Special DK, in the shade Parma Violet). I attach the pale yarn by pulling it through to finish off the dc from the previous petal, which gives a seamless finish.

With the paler purple yarn, work another 3 medium clusters by working in that same (Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) pattern into the next 3 chains, continuing on with the back-to-front hook insertion method and slip stitching into the next chain as you go.

Finally, we’ll make the large petals. Slip stitch into the next chain, inserting the hook from back to front. (Ch 1, 3 htr) into the same stitch.

Repeat this process (slip stitch into the next stitch, then work (ch 1, 3 htr) into the same stitch) 3 more times, for a total of 4 large petals.

Slip stitch to the final chain, again, inserting the hook from back-to-front, to finish off the final petal.

At this point, you can cut the pale purple yarn and fasten off.

At this point, you can weave in all of the purple ends (both pale and dark). Try to darn them into the petals themselves, matching the end to the petal to keep the colours separate.

I also used the green end at the bottom of the stem to define the bottom petals ever so slightly- just thread it onto a darning needle and pass it through between the two petals, to create a little green ‘stripe’. Keep this end attached for sewing the wisteria piece to the blanket later.

Large Wisteria Piece

To make the larger wisteria piece, all of the petal patterns and hook-insertion techniques stay exactly the same. All that changes is the number of petals and the point at which you change from the darker purple yarn to the paler purple yarn.

Following the instructions for the smaller wisteria piece, lay one of the 19-chain stem pieces out in front of you.

Work 5 small (ch 1, 2dc) petals in the darker purple yarn.

Then work 4 medium (ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) petals in the darker purple yarn.

Switch to the paler purple yarn, then work 1 more medium (ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) petal in the paler purple yarn.

Finally, work 9 large (ch 1, 3htr) petals in the paler yarn.

Weave in all the purple yarn ends as for the smaller wisteria piece, and define the bottom two petals using the green yarn end as before.

Written Pattern

Materials & Tools

• Stylecraft Special DK in the shades Pistachio, Wisteria and Parma Violet.*
• 5mm hook (for the starting chain).
• 3mm hook (for the leaves and petals).
• Scissors.
• Darning needle.

You can find the specific quantities for each of the yarn colours on the introductory post for this pattern, under ‘Master Material List’.

Small Wisteria (Make 10):

Using a 5mm hook, ch 14, leaving a long end (approx. 25cm) at the start for attaching to the blanket.

Switch to a 3mm hook to make the leaves.

*Ch 6, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Ch 5, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Ch 5, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next chain.

Ch 3, ss into 2^nd ch from hook.

Slip to next stitch, ch 3, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next chain.

Skip next stitch on main stem (at base of opposite leaf), ss to next ch, ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Skip next stitch on main stem, ss to next ch, ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Skip next stitch on main stem, ss to next ch, ch 4, ss into 2^nd ch from hook. Ss in next 2 chains.

Skip next stitch on main stem, ss to next 2 ch.

Cut the green yarn, leaving a long end (approx. 15-20cm) for attaching to the blanket.**

From now on, when working into the starting chain, always insert hook through the middle of the chain, from back to front. This will twist the chain after every petal is worked. After working odd-number petals, you should be looking at the back (bumpy side) of the chain. After working even-number petals, you should be looking at the front (v-pattern) side of the chain.

Attach Wisteria yarn to first chain of initial starting chain (opposite end to leaf).

(Ch 1, 2dc) into first stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 4 more times, for a total of 5 small petals.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 1 more time, for a total of 2 medium petals.

Cut Wisteria yarn and attach Parma Violet yarn.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 2 more times, for a total of 3 medium (pale) petals.

(Ch 1, 3htr) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 3 more times, for a total of 4 large petals.

Cut Parma Violet yarn. Weave in all purple ends, leaving both green ends for attaching to the blanket later. Define the bottom two (small) petals by threading the green end at the base of the wisteria onto a darning needle, then working a small stitch over the petals to separate them. Do not cut the green yarn after.

Large Wisteria (Make 10):

Using a 5mm hook, ch 19, leaving a long end (approx. 25cm) at the start for attaching to the blanket.

Switch to a 3mm hook and follow the pattern for the small wisteria piece from * to ** to make the leaves.

From now on, when working into the starting chain, always insert hook through the middle of the chain, from back to front. This will twist the chain after every petal is worked. After working odd-number petals, you should be looking at the back (bumpy side) of the chain. After working even-number petals, you should be looking at the front (v-pattern) side of the chain.

Attach Wisteria yarn to first chain of initial starting chain (opposite end to leaf).

(Ch 1, 2dc) into first stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 4 more times, for a total of 5 small petals.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 3 more times, for a total of 4 medium petals.

Cut Wisteria yarn and attach Parma Violet yarn.

(Ch 1, 1dc, 1htr, 1dc) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch, to make 1 more medium petal.

(Ch 1, 3htr) into next stitch, then ss into next stitch. Repeat 8 more times, for a total of 9 large petals.

Cut Parma Violet yarn. Weave in all purple ends, leaving both green ends for attaching to the blanket later. Define the bottom two (small) petals by threading the green end at the base of the wisteria onto a darning needle, then working a small stitch over the petals to separate them. Do not cut the green yarn after.

Final Thoughts

Once you’ve made 10 small wisteria pieces and 10 large wisteria pieces, you will have all of your wisteria appliqué elements ready to go for your Bridgerton House Baby Blanket! The next post in this series will include detailed instructions for attaching these, along with the rose pieces from last week’s post, to your blanket, so keep them somewhere safe until then.

Obviously, these crochet wisteria pieces are nowhere near anatomically correct, but, when attached to the blanket, I think they do a really good job of giving the impression of wisteria, which was the aim! They are a little fiddly to make, but that’s more because the spiral technique is quite different to typical crochet, not because it’s particularly hard or fine work! Just remember that, when you’re working the petals, you should always be inserting the hook through the middle of the next chain, from back to front, and you’ll be absolutely fine.

These wisteria pieces were definitely one of the more complicated elements to design for this blanket pattern, but I’m super happy with how they turned out- particularly the integrated leaf section, which not only reduces the number of ends you have to sew in (yay!) but also makes this blanket that little bit safer for young children (double yay!).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this wisteria embellishment tutorial! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not super experienced at writing crochet patterns, so please do let me know if you run into any problems with this and I will do my best to help you out! I’ll see you next week for Part 6 (the final part!).

Gemma

xxx