Yesterday, I shared the recipe for my Homemade Cherry Jam, which is used to fill and decorate the cake. Today, I’ll be talking all about how I made the chocolate curl decorations: there’s no tempering and no melting, so it’s a really quick and easy process!

I can’t take credit for this technique— I learned it from ✨Jamie Oliver✨, but I’m pretty sure it’s a classic chef technique? Nevertheless, I did want to share it with you, along with the tips & tricks that I picked up during my own curl-making process. However, if you’re more of a visual learner, you can find the video tutorial on the Jamie Oliver YouTube channel!

What You’ll Need

To make these chocolate curls, you only really need two items:

• A bar of dark chocolate

Obviously, the main thing to look for when you’re choosing your chocolate is the flavour: a good chocolate will make the most delicious chocolate curls! However, for this particular technique, it’s also important that the bar has a large, flat surface, like this one.

• A large knife

You’ll need a knife with a large, flat-edged blade that you can drag across the surface of the chocolate evenly. If you don’t have a large knife, a kitchen bench scraper would also work.

While those two items are the only essentials, I also recommend using two chopping boards, one large one as a base and one smaller one (that can fit on top of the larger one), as a barrier. This will just make the process a lot easier (and prevent you and your clothes from getting too messy!).

The Technique

First, you need to set up your workspace. Place the large chopping board in front of you on the work surface, then set the smaller chopping board on top of that larger board, positioning it at the end closest to you, like above.

Then, unwrap the chocolate bar and place it flat side up, with one of the short ends pushed up again that smaller chopping board.

Allow the edges of both chopping boards to push against your lower abdomen. This will provide resistance, which will allow you to make the curls without the bar of chocolate flying across your kitchen! You can do this without the extra chopping board ‘backstop’, as Jamie Oliver and Kerryann Dunlop (from the YouTube video) both do, but you then run the risk of getting your clothes all chocolate-y which… is not for me! I found that the extra chopping board worked well for me, but choose whichever method works best for you. The aim is just to stop the bar of chocolate from moving around as you make the curls.

Rest the blade against the surface of the chocolate, at about a 45° angle. You can adjust this angle to change the size/shape of your curls a little, but 45° is a good starting point!

Hold the dull side of the blade of the knife with one hand on each end. Obviously, you’re working with a knife here, so be careful, but at no point should your fingers be close to the sharp edge of the blade itself.

Apply an even pressure and carefully drag the knife down the length of the chocolate bar. As you drag, you’ll see the curl forming!

Repeat this process until you have as many curls as you need (or until your chocolate bar gets so thin that it breaks— whichever’s first!). I find it easiest to transfer the curls to a container as I go, otherwise I think everything gets a bit overcrowded, but do whatever works for you.

The curls can be stored in a cool place at room temperature, just like a regular chocolate bar. Don’t leave them in a super warm/sunny spot, or they’ll just melt together, but, as long as the weather’s cool enough, they don’t need to be stored in the refrigerator.

Variations

In my chocolate-scraping endeavours, I found that the temperature of the chocolate bar had a big effect on the finished size, shape and colour of the curls:

• Colour

Slightly warmer chocolate creates curls with a darker colour, more similar to the original colour of the chocolate bar. Cold chocolate creates curls that have a slight ‘bloom’ to them, which dulls the colour.

• Shape

Cold chocolate makes stronger, more defined curls. Slightly warmer chocolate makes less defined curls, but they can be gently nudged back into a proper curl shape.

• Texture

Slightly warmer chocolate creates smooth curls. Cold chocolate creates curls with a more jagged surface, showing off the hitches of the knife during the ‘dragging’ process.

• Size

Slightly warmer chocolate makes slightly longer curls, while cold chocolate makes slightly shorter curls.

For reference, I tried this technique with three different temperature chocolate bars: the first bar was at room temperature during a 30°C+ heatwave (the temperature it was when I made this wedding cake— can you believe it?!), the second bar was right out of the fridge and the third bar was at a pretty humid, but otherwise gentle, summery room temperature (about 22°C).

The fridge-cold bar was the easiest to work with, but I wasn’t happy with how much the colour of the chocolate was dulled down. The heatwave bar made the darkest, prettiest curls, but they were a bit more fiddly to make. The 22°C bar was somewhere in between the two. I found that the colder the chocolate was, the more I had to increase my angle (bring the knife closer to 90°) to get the curls. I assume that there’s a scientific reason for this, but I’m a linguist at heart, so who knows? My favourite were definitely the curls I made during the heatwave, which were the ones I used for this wedding cake.

However, because it was a heatwave, I did spread the curls out onto trays lined with baking paper and give them a blast in the fridge after I made them, just to make sure they didn’t melt! After an hour or so in the fridge, I transferred them to an airtight container, where they sat at (a still very warm!) room temperature perfectly happily, so make of that what you will!

And that is everything I learned while making the chocolate curls for the top of the wedding cake! I love this method: I think the curls look so professional and fancy, but they are so, unbelievably easy to make!

Gemma

xxx

If you missed yesterday’s post, I recently made another wedding cake (my third overall!) and I’m sharing all of the recipes/behind-the-scenes info with you this week!

This time around, the cake in question was a Cherry, Chocolate and Cardamom Layer Cake: a rich chocolate sponge, filled with a cardamom buttercream and homemade cherry jam, then decorated with heaps of chocolate curls and fresh cherries.

In today’s post, I’m sharing the recipe for the Homemade Cherry Jam! Making your own jam isn’t strictly necessary for the cake: if you’re short on time, or want to make the process a bit quicker/easier for yourself, you can absolutely use a good, store-bought cherry jam (insert Ina Garten meme here)— I recommend looking for one made with morello cherries for the most delicious results! However, if you have time, making your own jam is pretty straightforward and makes your cake extra special (and extra delicious!).

Using Jam as a Cake Filling

Jam is a super common cake filling (Victoria Sponge, I’m looking at you!), but it can be a little tricky to work with when you’re aiming for a super stable finished product. While jam is very sticky (all that sugar!), it’s more… slippery?… than buttercream, which can lead to your cake layers sliding a bit if you use too much of it to sandwich the layers (a little bit like lemon curd… which, if you were here for the last Wedding Cake Week, you’ll know is my ultimate nemesis!).

To avoid this problem, particularly because the cake had quite a long distance to travel to get to its destination, I opted to swirl the jam into the buttercream: you still get all the flavour of the jam, but it’s the buttercream that’s doing the heavy work keeping the cake upright, so you’ve got the best of both worlds!

This is a chunky jam, but the chunk is controlled: instead of a more natural-style jam, where the cherries break up a little, but not completely, as it cooks, I’ve made a smooth jam and then added diced cherries to it part of the way through the cooking process. There were two main reasons for this: aesthetics and taste. The smoother jam (with intentional chunks) looked a lot better on the cake, while the added pieces of cherry really amplified the overall flavour. If you’d prefer to make a more natural-style jam, though, go for it— it will still taste lovely!

Ingredients

To make this homemade cherry jam, you will need the following ingredients:

• Frozen cherries

I like to use frozen cherries, because they’re available year-round and I find them more convenient. I prefer to buy the darker cherries, because I think they give the jam a better colour, but as long as they’re pitted, any type will do.

• Dried cherries

Cherries have quite a subtle flavour so, to amp up the intensity of this jam, I use a small amount of dried cherries alongside the fresh fruit.

• Caster sugar

I like to use white caster sugar when making jam, because I find that golden caster sugar adds too much of a caramel flavour and is more prone to burning.

• Lemon juice

Cherries are pretty low in pectin, so I add a little bit of lemon juice to help the jam set properly. The tartness of the lemon juice also helps to balance the sweetness of the jam, so it’s a win-win!

• Water

The water is just there to help everything melt and cook together into a delicious jam.

How to Make Homemade Cherry Jam

Before you start making the jam, place a small plate into the freezer. This will be used later on to check whether the jam is ready or not.

To make the jam, put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and place it over a medium heat.

Stir the mixture every now and then until the sugar has completely dissolved and the frozen cherries have defrosted— you should be able to squish them pretty easily with a wooden spoon.

Use a slotted spoon to remove about 1/3 of the cherries (just the frozen ones, not the dried ones) from the mixture and transfer them to a chopping board. Set them aside to cool slightly.

Use a stick blender (or whatever blender you have, really) to purée the remaining mixture in the saucepan, aiming to get the jam as smooth as possible.

Strain the puréed jam mixture through a heatproof sieve into a clean saucepan, using the back of a spoon to push as much of the pulp through the sieve as you can.

Finely dice the reserved cherries (they should be cool enough to handle now!), then stir them into the strained jam mixture. This method allows you to control the size of the cherry chunks, while still ensuring that the jam base is perfectly thick and smooth.

Set the pan back over medium heat and bring the mixture to a rolling boil, stirring gently every so often.

Once the mixture reaches a rolling boil, keep it on the heat and monitor the temperature. I tend to use a digital probe thermometer for this, because I find it the most accurate and easy to use, but a regular candy thermometer would also work.

You might find that a layer of foam starts forming on the surface of the jam as it cooks— use a spoon to skim as much of it off as you can, but don’t worry about it too much!

When the jam reaches 105-110°C, remove the pan from the heat and grab your plate from the freezer. Place a small spoonful of jam onto the cold plate and leave it for 1 minute. After 1 minute, push the jam gently with your finger. If the surface wrinkles, your jam is ready! If it doesn’t wrinkle, return the plate to the freezer and the pan to heat for a further minute, then test it again. Repeat this process until the jam wrinkles.

Once the jam is ready, pour it into a heatproof container. Cover it with clingfilm or a lid, then allow it to cool to room temperature before transferring it to the fridge, where it can chill until you’re ready to use it.

Troubleshooting

Making jam isn’t hard, but it can feel a bit overwhelming at first! The main difficulty is getting the right set on it and, while it doesn’t need to be perfect, there are a couple of things you can do if you run into problems.

If your jam is too liquid:

The most likely culprit for this is that the jam was not boiled to the correct temperature: it needs to hit at least 105°C, at which point it should ‘pass’ the wrinkle test on the frozen plate. If your jam is too liquid, you can put it back on the heat and boil it again, testing it every minute or so until it passes that test.

Your jam will also stay more liquid if you omit the lemon from the recipe. Cherries don’t contain much pectin, which is what helps jam to set. Lemons, on the other hand, contain lots of pectin, so the juice is not just a flavour-based addition here: it’s a vital ingredient!

If your jam is too firmly set:

This jam recipe was specifically designed as a cake filling, so it is a little more firmly set than your average jam. You’ll probably find that, once it’s been chilled in the fridge, it is too firm to work with: that’s what you want! It gives you the ability to warm it up slightly, work with it, then let it firm back up to give your cake more structure and stability.

To get your jam to working temperature, warm it for 10 seconds in the microwave. It will be perfectly drizzle-able!

Recipe

Print

Homemade Cherry Jam

A homemade jam, made with frozen and dried cherries, perfect for filling a cake.

Course Component

Keyword Cherry, Jam

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 475 grams

Equipment

• Handheld blender (or your preferred blending device)
• Digital probe thermometer (see Note 1)

Ingredients

• 600 g frozen cherries, pitted.
• 120 g dried cherries
• 320 g white caster sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice, freshly-squeezed.
• 60 ml water

Instructions

• Before you start making the jam, put a small plate into the freezer. This will be used for testing the consistency of the jam later on.
• Place all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring every now and then, until the frozen cherries have defrosted and the sugar has dissolved.
• Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove about a third of the frozen cherries (not the dried cherries) from the mixture and set aside on a chopping board to cool slightly.
• Use the handheld blender to purée the jam, making it as smooth as possible.
• Strain the mixture through a sieve into a clean saucepan, using the back of a spoon to push as much of the pulp through as possible.
• Finely dice the reserved cherries, then add them to the strained jam mixture in the new pan.
• Set the pan over medium heat and bring the jam to a rolling boil, stirring gently. Use a metal spoon to remove as much foam as possible from the surface of the jam as it cooks.
• Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the jam as it boils. Once it reaches between 105-110°C, remove the pan from the heat and grab the plate from the freezer.
• Place a small spoonful of jam onto the frozen plate, let it sit for 1 minute, then gently push the jam with your finger. If the jam wrinkles, it's ready. If not, return the plate to the freezer and the pan to the heat. Boil the jam for a further minute, then test again. Repeat this until it passes the 'wrinkle test'.
• Once the jam is ready, pour it into a heatproof container. Cover and leave to cool to room temperature before placing into the fridge until ready to use.
• The jam will firm up significantly in the fridge. If it is too firm to use when it first comes out of the fridge, just give it a 10 second blast in the microwave to thin it back out a little.

Notes

1. You can use a regular candy thermometer for this, but I prefer to use a digital probe thermometer, like this one, because I think it is easier to use and gives a more precise measurement. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can still make this jam, you’ll just need to rely more heavily on the ‘wrinkle test’ to check if it’s ready!

If you’re new here, I am by no means a professional baker, but I did stumble into the world of wedding cake baking last year, when I made the cake for my brother’s wedding (a deconstructed, three-tier, chocolate, coffee & lemon cake that you can find here!). I then fell even further down the wedding cake rabbit hole later on in the year, when I made an Orange & Olive Oil cake for a family friend’s big day!

Before this year, then, the number of wedding cakes I had made was a grand total of… 2. Over the last month, that total has doubled, because from mid-August to mid-September, I made another two wedding cakes! After my brother’s wedding, a couple of his friends asked me to make their wedding cakes (SO exciting!!) and I got to working on the designs & recipes straight away. Both weddings have now taken place, vows have been made and cakes have been sliced, so I can finally share the recipes with you!

So, with that…

Welcome to Wedding Cake Week: Season 2!

Over the next 4 days, I’ll be sharing all of the recipes, techniques and behind-the-scenes info for the first of the wedding cakes: the Chocolate, Cherry and Cardamom cake that I made for Florrie and Mohit.

This cake was inspired by a recipe created by Meera Sodha for a chocolate cake that is filled with a cardamom & mascarpone cream icing and cherry jam. My version is made using my all-time favourite chocolate cake recipe (the one I developed for my brother’s wedding cake!), a cardamom-infused American buttercream, a homemade cherry jam and an abundance of chocolate curls (which, as it turns out, are incredibly easy to make at home!).

Tuesday: Homemade Cherry Jam Recipe

Wednesday: Easy Chocolate Curls

Thursday: Chocolate, Cherry and Cardamom Cake Recipe

Friday: Chocolate, Cherry and Cardamom Cake (The Rectangular Version) Recipe

A little note: because we’ll be deep in chocolate curls on Wednesday, there won’t be a WIP Wednesday post this week! Don’t worry though, you won’t be missing anything— in Week 4 of making my Porcelain Sweater, I knit a grand total of… 6 rows of rib. Check back in next week for some more interesting progress (hopefully!).

Florrie & Mohit specifically requested a simple, 8-inch round cake as their main cake, so, to ensure that there was plenty of cake to go round all of their friends and family, I also made a bigger, rectangular version of the cake that could be sliced in the kitchen and served to the guests once the main cake had been cut (kind of like a loaves-and-fishes situation, where the cake just miraculously keeps coming!).

I used this approach with my last wedding cake and I think it’s a really neat way of doing things because it gives you SO much more flexibility with the size of the main cake. Because of this, you guys get two recipes for the price of one: an 8-inch round version of the cake (on Thursday) and a 13 x 9-inch rectangular version of the cake (on Friday)!

I hope I’ll see you back here tomorrow to talk all things cherry jam!

Gemma

xxx

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

Last week, I talked you through all of my plans for my current project: a Porcelain Sweater made with the 2025 Bridgerton Advent mini skeins from Castle View Yarns. This week, the knitting begins!

I actually have to confess something: I’m already a couple of weeks into knitting this sweater! By the time I got around to sharing my first WIP Wednesday last week, I had already been sitting on the post for a little while and got myself all in a pickle with the timeline… I figured the best thing to do was just to let you know, continue writing these weekly updates as I go and share them every Wednesday, so you’ll still see my weekly progress, just a couple of weeks after the actual knitting has taken place! Hopefully, after this project, I can bring my WIP Wednesday posts a little closer to real-time, so I feel less fraudulent…

Anyway, let’s roll back a couple of weeks and talk about the first 7 days of knitting my Porcelain Sweater!

Progress

Here’s what I knitted in my first week:

• Top of the back
• Left shoulder
• Right shoulder
• First few rows of the front, with the shoulders joined together

Not too bad, right?! So far there’s been a bit of shaping, a bit of colourwork-ing and a bit of good old fashioned stockinette stitch. Something for everyone!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

I have been really enjoying knitting this project— it feels like perfect balance of simple and challenging to keep me interested, but not overwhelmed.

From a technical side, so far, I’ve been able to practise the backwards loop cast on and German short rows, as well as my colourwork technique. Everything so far has been knit flat, so the colourwork has been a little bit of a learning curve— I feel like I’ve really nailed down my colourwork technique when knitting, but not quite so much when purling, so I’ve had to adjust to that.

I have found that I need to knit a few extra rows here and there in the cream stockinette sections, just because my row gauge is slightly tighter than the pattern calls for. I’m making a Size L and purchased 12 balls of DROPS Merino Extra Fine as my main colour, but I think there’s a relatively strong chance that I’ll run out (mainly because of those extra rows)… I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough!

After making my colourwork swatch, I decided to reverse the order of the contrast colours on the sweater, so that the warmer, pink shades are closest to my face. I’m very pale (sometimes bordering on a slightly… ghostly grey, depending on how unwell I’m feeling) but I do have brown eyes, so I think these will be the most flattering shades for me, hence the decision to position them closer to my face. I didn’t think of the placement at all until I made the swatch, at which point I realised I preferred the gradient upside down (as pictured) than right way up!

As a result, for my colourwork sections, I’m working from the Day 24 shade through to Day 1, not from Day 1 to Day 24. I spent a while deciding how best to split up the rows between the colours, and with a little counting and (light maths), I worked out that I could do 2 rows of each shade, plus an extra row of 7 of them, because I have 24 shades and there are 55 rows worked with the contrast colour. I tried to stagger the 3-row bands of colour pretty evenly throughout the jumper, so that the difference wasn’t too noticeable. I think it’s working really well so far!

I opted to recreate the colourwork chart from the pattern on Numbers (Apple’s slightly less heavy-duty answer to Microsoft’s Excel). I did this mainly so that I could use my own colours within the chart, because I realised things might get pretty confusing pretty quickly with so many colour changes. This also allowed me to get an idea of how the patterned band would look, which was very helpful.

I was a little confused by the chart for this band at first, because the middle section of stitches is labelled separately as the ‘repeat’. However, I followed my general policy of knitting-exactly-what-you-see (it has stood me in good stead so far!) and soon realised that, because this section is knit flat, the chart does not need to be (and is not) cyclical in its entirety, so it all made sense in the end.

In this colourwork band, there are four plain rows where you need to either carry the non-working yarn across the back of the work or cut the yarn and reattach it at the end of the row, so that you can work the pattern in the following row. I totally forgot that this would be the case, because I’m so used to knitting colourwork in the round, but it is often a necessary evil when working colourwork flat, like this. I managed to avoid one of these instances, because my contrast colour change fell in exactly the right place (which was unplanned, but absolutely delicious)! Towards the bottom of the band, I did have a scenario where I should have carried the contrast yarn behind the main colour, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to use more of my special, Advent yarns than necessary, so I cut that yarn and reattached it at the end of the row. I was a little reluctant to do that, because I’m already a bit worried about finding places for all of these yarn ends without bulking up the sweater too much, so for the other two instances, where it was the cream shade that needed to be carried, I did, just to reduce the number of ends (though I know this will not help my potentially-running-out-of-yarn problem…).

As it turns out, carrying yarns all the way across a piece of work is not one of my fortes: ironically, because patterns always warn you not to make your floats too tight, I always leave mine too loose! My current way of dealing with this is to knit the whole row, then go back afterwards and adjust the floats to make them the perfect tension, which isn’t the most efficient method, but has been working for me so far.

Also, before I forget, I’ve been very diligent about keeping my yarn dominance the same throughout this project, because I want to make sure everything looks really even. I’m keeping my contrast colour(s) as the dominant yarn, so, whenever I work the colourwork sections, I’m always double-checking that the main colour floats are going over the contrast colour floats (i.e. the contrast colour is sitting closer to the back of the fabric).

Castle View Yarns 2025 Bridgerton Advent: Shades 24-17

For the first band of colourwork, I used shades 24-17 of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns. There’s only one row of Shade 17 at the end of this band, but I’ll be using it again at the start of the second band too, to help the gradient flow through the design. I thought it would be fun to share the yarn shades that I’ve used so far here, along with their names and (my best guesses at) their inspirations from Bridgerton!

24: ‘Souls That Dance’

This golden orange shade is named after a quote from Season 2, said by Kate Sharma during her sister Edwina’s Haldi Ceremony. I’ve always loved the colours in this scene, so I was very excited to see it represented in this Advent!

23: ‘You Occupy My Every Thought’

This coppery-pink shade is named after a quote from Season 3, said by Penelope Featherington during Colin Bridgerton’s dream sequence. The scene takes place at night and is very romantic and misty, with firelight flickering across the stone walls and the actors’ skin, infusing everything with a subtle, pink glow. I think that rosy glow must have inspired this yarn!

22: ‘I Would Not Need Flowers’

This pink shade, flecked through with orange, is named after a quote from Season 1, said by the Duke of Hastings to Daphne Bridgerton. I think this shade really suits its name, but, try as I might, I can’t quite figure out the inspiration behind it! The pink shade does show up, albeit very subtly, in the scene, on the cravat of a passerby and (perhaps?) on the pattern of the Duke’s waistcoat, though I’m most inclined to take it as a reference to blushing, because the Duke was being… a little bit risqué here. Daphne’s hair also has quite a gingery undertone in this scene, so perhaps that’s where the orange flecks come in? Either way, I really love the combination of pink and orange, particularly in flowers, so I really, really love this shade.

21: ‘My Wit & My Wardrobe’

This berry shade is named after a quote from Season 1, said by the iconic Lady Danbury. This colour so perfectly encapsulates the character, who typically wears darker, more dramatic jewel tones— I love it!

20: ‘Scandal’

This blackberry shade has more of a general, thematic name, rather than taking inspiration from a direct quote in the series (scandal is, after all, a recurring element in the show, throughout all of the seasons!). This colourway has a similar intensity to ‘My Wit & My Wardrobe’, but is slightly more cool-toned, marking a shift towards the lighter pinks and lilacs in the gradient.

19: ‘Cressida’s Corsage’

This pink shade is (I believe!) another more general name: throughout all of the seasons of the show, Cressida Cowper’s dedication to the colour pink is unwavering, so this feels like a fitting tribute.

18: ‘Love Match’

This pale pink shade is shot through with hints of orange, blue and lilac. The concept of a ‘love match’ is a recurring theme in the show and I think this shade encapsulates it perfectly: to me, the pink creates a backdrop of love and affection, while the orange flecks infuse it with a little bit of fiery passion, the blue the more painful parts of real, human love and the lilac the peace that comes with finding a true connection. I think this one is particularly clever, even if I’m more drawn to some of the deeper shades.

17. ‘First Spark Of Affection’

We’re shifting into the purples now with this lilac shade. At first, I thought that this shade was inspired by Francesca Bridgerton, because I knew the title was from a quote in the scene in Season 3 where she is being introduced to the Queen’s suitor for her. However, upon further research, I actually think it’s inspired more directly by Violet Bridgerton (the speaker of the quote itself) and the outfit she’s wearing in the scene: a lavender jacket and a dusky, pinky-plum dress. I think this is a lovely tribute, especially given that Season 3 is when Violet finds her own ‘first spark of affection’ since her husband’s passing.

And those are the yarns from the 2025 Bridgerton Advent that I used for the first band of colourwork on my Porcelain Sweater! I worked 2 rows with each shade, except for ‘You Occupy My Every Thought’ and ‘Scandal’, which I worked 3 rows each of, and ‘First Spark of Affection’, which I worked 1 row of (and will continue on with at the start of the next colourwork band, to help the gradient flow).

Final Thoughts

And that is how the first week of making my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project went! I really am loving this process— I feel like I lost my spark a little with knitting, but it’s definitely back now. I think the fact that I’m just following the pattern, so it feels fairly simple, but doing something a little creative with the colours, so it also feels exciting and special, is working really well for me and I’m absolutely loving watching the pattern and the gradient appear as I knit.

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

Back in May, I set up a Knitting Scrapbook as a way of creating a physical record of some of my more ambitious and creative projects. Today’s post features the first of those projects: a Porcelain Sweater, made using the yarn from the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns! I figured this would be a great project to try out this new, weekly update approach because it’s a little more complicated than most of my other makes!

In this post, I’ll take you through my planning process for this sweater and chat a little bit about the yarn I’m using, how I set up the corresponding pages in my Knitting Scrapbook and, of course, the swatching stage!

Castle View Yarns: 2025 Bridgerton Advent

This project was definitely one that started from the yarn— I bought the yarn and chose the pattern for the yarn, not the other way around!

Because this yarn was an Advent collection, it is no longer available (which is a huge shame, because it is so, so beautiful!). However, Castle View Yarns has a large range of other beautiful yarns to choose from, so I’d definitely recommend checking out the shop anyway!

The Backstory

I was so thrilled that I managed to snatch up one of the leftover Merino DK versions of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns last year, after I missed the cut off date for preorders. I had been intending to purchase the 4ply version, but it sold out immediately! Instead, I settled for the DK version and I’m actually really pleased now, because it led to this project.

The first time I heard about the Advent was through an Instagram post that was suggested to me the day after preorders closed (literally! The day after!), which was such bad luck. I was truly heartbroken because I felt like this product was just made for me: I mean, I love Bridgerton, I love yarn and I love Advent calendars! Even more so, I loved the concept colour palette for the collection: this gorgeous, muted rainbow gradient. Unable to admit defeat, I waited (kind of patiently, kind of obsessively) until Castle View Yarns announced when the leftover stock would be on sale, set multiple alarms and started refreshing the webpage from about 5 minutes before the release time. Honestly, I have not taken anything quite this seriously since I got my tickets for the Eras Tour!

At 6pm on the dot, on a dark evening in November, I was there, ready to go and get the yarn that I had been dreaming about ever since May. Unfortunately, I got lost on the webpage (no, seriously, I couldn’t figure out which listing was which and nearly purchased one of the Weekly Advents, which I’m sure was lovely, but wasn’t quite what I wanted!). Eventually, I found the right place, put the 4ply Daily Advent in my basket, went to check out and… it had been sold! Disaster!

In a haze, I went back to the listing and found that there were still a couple of the DK versions available. In that moment, I made a split second decision to go for it, despite having no idea what I’d use it for. I had come this far, though and was not about to be defeated!

My last-minute Advent arrived on the 1st December, which was super fast and meant I could open one yarn package each day, as intended. If you’ve been here for a while, you might remember that I was absolutely plagued by colds and illnesses last December, which was not fun at all, but opening up this Advent every day bought me so much joy— it was so special! I loved seeing all the colours in person, seeing the Bridgerton inspiration in their names and shades and watching the gradient form during the course of the month.

The Yarn

The 2025 Bridgerton Advent that I purchased included 24 x 20g mini skeins of Soft Merino DK (a 100% superwash merino, 225m/100g yarn). The shades form a soft, muted rainbow gradient, beginning and ending in the golden-orange shades. All of the shades had specific inspirations from the Bridgerton Series (up to Season 3, because Season 4 had not yet been released at that point!).

The yarns came individually wrapped and numbered in a velvety grey sack (like, a fancy sack, not a sack sack). A wax-sealed (!) envelope was enclosed, which contained a list of all of the yarn names, day-by-day. Also, there was a little glass bee stitch marker wrapped into the Day 1 package, along with the yarn, which was a fun surprise! My only problem was that, inside of the packages, the yarn itself was not labelled, so I used some card and safety pins to label it myself, in case I got all of the shades mixed up (which, honestly, might still have happened at some point— I wouldn’t be able to tell!).

I paid £145 for the Advent, along with £3.95 in shipping, bringing my total to £148.95. I know that this is a lot of money, though it is actually pretty reasonable for hand-dyed yarn from a one-woman business, I think! Nevertheless, I specifically saved for this product, knowing how much joy it would bring me and considering it a super special, Christmas present to myself.

Deciding What to Make with the Yarn

I spent a long time deciding what to make with this yarn. There are lots of patterns designed for 4ply Advent yarns, but not quite so many for DK Advent yarns. I spent a lot of time scrolling through Ravelry, looking for inspiration, obsessively checking the meterage of each project and just being generally indecisive and unsure.

Time ticked by (which is why I’m only just working with my 2025 Advent yarn now, in August 2026!), until I suddenly stumbled upon the perfect project. It was a pattern that was already in my favourites, that I knew I wanted to make at some point but hadn’t yet contemplated super seriously. It was, of course, the ever-popular Porcelain Sweater by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe!

Porcelain Sweater

The Porcelain Sweater is an incredibly popular, knitted jumper pattern. It’s typically made with just two colours: a main colour, which forms the bulk of the sweater, and a contrast colour, which is used to work three horizontal bands of colourwork. My idea was to use a classic, cream shade for the main colour, but to use the Advent yarns as the contrast colour, working my way through the gradient as I worked my way down through the colourwork

bands. To help myself visualise this, I sketched (read: I traced, your girl is not an artist) out what I had in mind on my iPad and, in doing so, convinced myself to go for it!

The suggested yarn for the Porcelain Sweater is a fingering weight yarn, held together with a mohair to give a DK-ish weight. I’m not a huge fan of mohair anyway, so I was happy to replace those two yarns with a single strand of DK. The next challenge was finding a cream yarn that was similar to the Advent yarn base that I could use as the main colour, which meant that, ideally, I wanted the yarn to fit the following conditions:

• Superwash
• Merino
• 225m/100g
• Not too pricey (because I’d already spent so much on the Advent itself!)

Eventually, I settled on DROPS Merino Extra Fine. This is a superwash, merino yarn that I have used before and isn’t too expensive (£3.50 per ball). It’s ever so slightly thicker than the Advent yarn (105m/50g, compared to 225m/100g), which isn’t ideal, but it worked out fine when I swatched it. You can feel the difference in the two yarns slightly when you’re knitting, but you can’t tell just by looking at the knitted fabric.

Knitting Scrapbook

Once I’d made all of those big decisions, it was time to get out my Knitting Scrapbook and christen it with its first project! I was so excited for this part— I really wanted the pages to reflect my vision for the finished project and add an extra level of fun and creativity to the whole process!

This project will have 3 x double-page spreads: a Mood Board, a Notes/Progress Tracker and, finally, a spread dedicated to Photos of the final product!

Mood Board

I wanted my mood board to have lots of colour, to reflect all of the colours in the finished jumper! I really leaned into the scrapbooking style and layered up patterned papers, printed photos, stickers and stamped designs to encapsulate everything that had been swirling around in my mind since I dreamed this project up.

I included my mockup of the finished jumper, as well as the original pattern photo from LE KNIT and a still from the show of Violet Bridgerton drinking from a porcelain cup (because it felt very fitting).

I also included images of the yarns I would be using: photos of the Advent yarns that I had taken, as well as images of the DROPS yarn that I found online and the original graphic for the Advent too.

Notes/Progress Tracker

This spread is a little less busy, because its main purpose is to provide a space for me to jot down any important information about the project as I knit it up.

On the left-hand page, I have labelled the space ‘Notes’: this will be where I can write down any significant changes I’ve made, or any otherwise important information that I need to remember (needle size, yarn amounts etc.).

On the right-hand page, there’s a space for keeping track of my progress. This isn’t as useful as the notes section but, seeing as this scrapbook is supposed to be part-useful journal, part-memento, I think it will be a nice page to come back to in the future and see how long the project took me and what order I did everything in.

Gauge Swatching

The Porcelain Jumper is knit both flat and in the round at different points throughout the process. In both sections, some of the work is plain, using only one colour, and some of the work is worked with two strands of yarn to form the colourwork. Because of this, it was hard to know which way to work the gauge swatch: I usually swatch in the round, because the majority of a jumper is usually knitted that way, but it is one of my absolute least favourite things to do.

In the end, I began the swatching journey with a flat swatch of just the DROPS yarn on 4.0mm needles. I then worked a swatch in the round using the same yarn and needles, so that I could compare my tensions. My tension in the round was a little looser, so I tried making the flat swatch again using a 4.5mm needle. I blocked my swatches, checked my tensions and decided that the yarn would work for the pattern and the suggested 4mm needle was best, both flat and in the round (either the flat swatch loosened out a little or the round swatch tightened up— who knows, but they were pretty similar in the end!).

The next stage was to swatch the colourwork. I decided to swatch the colourwork flat, because I knew it was going to be a complicated enough process without introducing the whole working-in-the-fake-round thing. I opted to knit a single row of each of the 24 colours of yarn in the swatch so that, when I blocked it, I could see whether any of the colours would run, which was one of my biggest concerns with this project. The charts in the pattern each contain 17-19 rows of colourwork, so I had to extend one of them a little to fit all 24 colours in (which was no matter— it’s just a swatch after all!).

Amazingly, none of the colours ran, despite the fact that there are some quite deep-toned reds and purples, along with some quite strong greens. I was thrilled! I was also absolutely in love with the swatch: just like my mockup of the finished Porcelain Sweater, the colourwork swatch definitely gave me that “I’m on the right track!” feeling.

Final Thoughts

And with that, I was ready to begin! I planned this Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent pretty thoroughly, because I knew it was a little out of the ordinary for me. At the end of the day though, I did just want to get going so, once the DROPS yarn arrived, I got started! I haven’t made a whole lot of sweaters, so I was slightly daunted, but I was also so excited to see how the project worked up.

As I mentioned, I’m going to be trying something a little new with this project by posting weekly updates. I’ll be showing you how far I’ve got, chatting about any changes/choices I’ve made and sharing my mid-knit thoughts with you as we go. I hope I’ll see you back here next week, for another WIP Wednesday!

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.

Gemma

xxx

It’s been a while since my latest instalment of this series (since my last post of any sort, truthfully!). It’s the age-old story: life got slightly busier, I got significantly more tired as a result, which made life feel even busier, which made me even more tired and, alas, I’ve been going round in that loop for most of 2026! I’ve really missed sharing all of my crafty endeavours with you though, so I’ve been working hard to come back to this space and here I am! I have some super exciting projects that I’ve been working on that I cannot wait to show you all.

First up, we’re going back into my personal archives with a knitting project that I made a while ago (read: like… nearly 2 years ago), then promptly forgot to share with you: the Mist Sleeves by Helene Beba (Garnogslikt). I’ve been following Garnogslikt on Instagram for a while now and, when I first saw these sleeves, I fell in LOVE with them: they’re not like anything I’ve ever seen before, but they’re just so pretty! I remember waiting so impatiently for the release of the pattern (which was literally in September 2024… that’s how long ago we’re talking!), so it feels very full circle to have them as a wearable garment now.

I decided to make myself a pair of these sleeves to bring to my brother’s wedding (last year…), just in case I got chilly in the evening. Naturally, I never actually wore these at the wedding because, by the time I needed them, I was simply too tired to walk to the car and get them, but it was nice knowing they were there all the same. Since then, I have worn them over camisoles (like in the photos) a good few times and every single time I’ve worn them I’ve received such lovely compliments— it’s really made me love them even more!

The Pattern

This is a really simple design. I won’t lie, both my brother and my dad told me on separate occasions that they were waiting for me to knit the body, so I don’t think they quite understood the ✨vision✨, but I fell in love with the concept immediately, so I just ignored their bewilderment. I made a size 1, which is the smallest size provided (this is a bit unusual for me— I’m typically in the middle-ish size section, so definitely pay close attention to the Size Guide in the pattern if you plan to make these yourself).

The design is worked sideways, so you start at one shoulder, work all the way across the chest and down the opposite sleeve, then come back to the cast on and knit the second sleeve. The pattern switches between being worked flat (the shoulders/front & back twist sections) and in the round (the sleeves). The ends of the sleeves are finished with an i-cord edge.

I have to say, I absolutely LOVED making this pattern! It was so simple, easy and quick to make, but I think it makes for such a stunning, classic, yet unusual piece. Also, even with such a simple design, there were still some techniques used that were new to me, so I was still learning as I went!

The Yarn

The pattern lists two options for yarn: you can either use a standard mohair yarn, holding 3 strands together, or you can use a chunky mohair yarn with one strand. I originally planned to use 3 strands of mohair together, but I ran into a few problems with that…

Firstly, I struggled to find a mohair that I liked that wasn’t crazy expensive (especially given that I would need so much of it as a result of the whole 3-strands-together business). I was super excited to try out the (relatively new, at the time) Yarnsmiths Kid Mohair Silk, but… I really didn’t like it?! It was very scratchy and the mohair fibres were in these tufty patches along the central thread, which I didn’t love.

The second problem was the look of the knitted fabric: I think because these sleeves are knit at such a loose gauge to keep them nice and drape-y (and, well, misty), I just felt that a lot of the fine mohair options gave quite a messy finish? I tried DROPS Kid Silk too (another slightly more affordable option for a mohair), but again, I just didn’t like how it looked!

My mum had some leftover Filcolana Tilia from another project, so I gave that a go too. I held it doubled to get gauge, and it looked lovely and felt really soft, but the yarn was just too expensive for a project like this, especially when I wasn’t sure if I’d get a huge amount of wear out of it.

In the end, I went back to the drawing board and started looking at chunky mohairs instead. I got a few balls of DROPS Melody to check out the colours, knitted a swatch and decided that was definitely the way to go: knitting with the chunkier yarn is a much more affordable option (and easier, too, because you don’t have to worry about getting all 3 strands of the yarn each time you knit a stitch!). I did use a slightly larger needle size to get gauge though: a 6.5mm instead of a 6.0mm.

Also, the Melody was surprisingly soft, which was a happy bonus! It’s a chunky weight yarn (140m/50g) made up of 71% alpaca, 25% wool and 4% polyamide. I do find that the sleeves shed a little when I’m wearing them, but I think that’s pretty unavoidable with a yarn as fluffy as this. The other downside of this yarn is that it doesn’t have the biggest shade range: it’s great for the neutrals and there are a few brighter colours, but there are very few of the more autumnal shades that I’m typically drawn to. Overall though, I think this yarn was the perfect choice for this particular project!

The Colour

As I said, I bought a few balls of DROPS Melody to check out the colours before I committed myself to one shade. My dress for the wedding was an ever-so-slightly-dusky green colour, so I wanted something that would go with that. I was desperately trying to get away from whites/creams, because I was worried it might be inappropriate for the wedding, but cream really was the only colour that worked (plus, my dress was green as green anyway, so I don’t think anyone would be mistaking me for a bride (especially given that the groom was my brother!)— but I obviously ran it past my now sister-in-law anyway ahead of time)!

The three colours that I tried were: Off White (01), a cream shade; Rosewater (23) a very pale, dusky pink shade; and Marzipan (24), a neutral shade. In the end, I decided to go with Off White: Rosewater was just a bit too much with the green and the Marzipan shade was weirdly grey-toned (as a marzipan/almond paste lover, I must ask: what horrifying kind of marzipan is grey?).

One big plus side to using the Off White shade was that it made the sleeves very neutral, so they can be worn with lots of different colour tops/dresses, which I feel makes me more likely to reach for the sleeves, despite the fact that they’re a slightly unusual garment.

The Knitting Process

Honestly, this was one of the simplest, fastest knits I’ve made (it took me less than two weeks, and I was super busy with other, wedding/cake-related stuff during that time!), but (naturally…) that does not mean that it was a completely hassle-free experience!

Judy’s Magic Cast On

I’d never heard of Judy’s Magic Cast On before making these sleeves, so I did have to watch the video linked in the pattern to get to grips with it. This cast on essentially a ‘two-sided’ cast on, where you can knit off both sides of the cast on from the get-go. It’s often used when making toe-up socks.

I did find this cast-on a bit fiddly and it definitely wouldn’t be my favourite cast on, but I also think it’s very necessary to get the seamless look of the design right, so I don’t think it’s avoidable? Then again, I have since made a project using the Turkish Cast On, which (I think?) gives a very similar effect. I found the Turkish Cast On much easier and more intuitive than Judy’s Magic Cast On, so I wonder if I could use it for this pattern in the future?

A Lesson in Reading the Pattern

In hindsight, the instructions after the cast on very clearly state to start on the right side with a knit row. I think I must still have been swirling in the whole new-cast-on experience, though, because I started on the wrong side, with a purl row, which meant I had to do a little bit of extra thinking and fudging later on to make sure that the sleeves were an equal length.

The Twists

The twisted detail on both the front and the back is the main design feature of these sleeves and I think they make the garment look so pretty and elegant. I was a little worried about the twisting process at first, just because I had never done something like that before, but it was so much more straightforward than I expected! It’s just a case of repositioning the fabric a little, then knitting straight across it. That’s all! It was much less scary than I had anticipated.

Barber Cords Everywhere

I’ve mentioned The Knitting Barber Silicone Cords before here on the blog, so you know about my love for them, but this was definitely a pattern that really benefitted from using them: there’s a lot of leaving live stitches hanging around, so it’s handy to have somewhere to put them where you don’t have to worry about them sliding off!

Sleeve Length

The sleeves in the pattern are designed to be long, ‘hitting the middle of the palm’. I didn’t want mine quite that long, so I decided from the start to make them a little shorter. However, my arms are quite long, so the suggested 50cm length actually worked out pretty perfect for me (also it worked out as exactly 100 rows by my count, which was a very delicious round number that I very much appreciated).

I-cord Edge

An i-cord edge is added to the end of both sleeves, where they hit your wrist (or the middle of the palm, if you’re following the pattern!). It takes a little while (lots of slipping back and forth), but there aren’t that many stitches and it makes a nice, clean edge, so it’s definitely worth it.

The cuffs are actually the only places where the knitted fabric is ‘finished’— all of the other edges (i.e. the neckline, the twists and the opening across the chest/under the arms) are all left ‘unfinished’, with the raw edges of the knitting visible. This isn’t something I’ve come across a lot in patterns, but I think here it really helps to preserve the visual flow and softness of the garment (plus, the yarn’s super fluffy, so you can barely tell!).

New Techniques

Despite the simplicity of the pattern, there were still a few techniques used that were new to me, as well as some opportunities to practise a couple of techniques that I’ve tried before (as always, previously encountered techniques are marked with an *):

• Judy’s Magic Cast-On
• Dividing stitches to make a twist
• I-cord edging*
• Grafting stitches*

Final Thoughts

I’m SO happy with how these sleeves turned out and I really loved the process of making them— after the pretty complex and labour intensive Braidy Loop Sweater that I made before them, this felt like a super relaxing and peaceful knit!

Admittedly, the sleeves are a little unusual as knitted garments go, but I think that’s what makes them so special. Plus, I think they’re actually a really great staple piece: I live in the UK and (despite the insane heatwaves we’ve been having this summer), the temperature is usually pretty mild, so it’s nice to have something you can throw on over all the summer dresses and strappy tops, so that you can wear them for a slightly longer period each year!

I’d definitely make these sleeves again, but I think I’d have to plan the colour carefully so that I could be sure that I had multiple tops/outfits to wear with them. One of the samples made by Helene Beba is made in this gorgeous burgundy colour and is slightly more opaque than the other ones. In the notes, it says that this sample was knitted with one strand of Knitting for Olive Merino in the shade Bordeaux (the same yarn I used for the Braidy Loop Sweater) and two strands of Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair (also in Bordeaux). It would be a pricier project, but the sample is very beautiful… maybe one day?

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Mist Sleeves pattern by Helene Beba (Garnogslikt) on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Mist Sleeves here.

Gemma

xxx

However, I’ve been seeing loads of scrapbook-style bullet journal spreads around recently and it got me wanting to make my own. I suddenly thought: maybe I could tie the two things together and make a… Knitting Scrapbook. Imagine, if you will, a scrapbook-style, memory bank of knitting projects, from conception to cast-off. No rules, lots of paper and glue and fun patterns: just pure, creative, knitting-inspired scrapbooking.

Today, I’m setting up the first few pages of my new Knitting Scrapbook and talking you through all of my plans for this new journal!

My Knitting Scrapbook Plans

My rough plan is to allocate approximately 3 double-page spreads to each project (and I’ll probably only use this journal for my bigger, more intricate undertakings).

The first spread will be a mood board for the project: colour palette, design, vibe— that kind of thing. One thing you should know about me is that I love to make moodboards. Truly: give me the briefest spark of an idea and I will spend hours turning it into a moodboard that absolutely nobody asked for. It brings me so much joy, so this feels like a good use of a spread!

The second spread will be a big, empty space (with some decoration, but not too much) for any notes, assorted project-making memories and possibly some figures/statistics? I want to make these spreads messy, but also kind of aesthetic in their messiness!

The third and final spread will be a collage of pictures of the finished project, kind like a retrospective mood board, if you will!

At least, all of that is the aim! I think it’s nice to have a vague structure like this in my head, because it means that I can make the mood board page for the next project before finishing the last (I’ll just count three spreads forward). I want this project to be really relaxed: a no-pressure, messy, creative outlet that ends up as a satisfying album of yarn-y memories and knitting accomplishments. I think that keeping everything as relaxed and easygoing as possible will really help me to maintain this project, rather than thinking of it as just another thing to fill out/keep up with.

The Notebook

For my Knitting Scrapbook, I used an empty journal that I already had: this A5 Dot Grid Journal from Tiefossi. Admittedly, my scrapbook vibes don’t quite match this moody, green, red and gold cover, but maybe some of my projects will tie in with that aesthetic in the future?

Nevertheless, this journal has super high quality, dot grid paper (and the pages are numbered, which is great for this project, because it means I can navigate through it more easily), gilded edges, two ribbon bookmarks, a back pocket, an elastic closure and a pen loop, which is quite literally everything I want in a journal!

Equipment

To make this setup, I used the following equipment:

• Patterned paper (I used this pack from The Works, but I think it’s out of stock now 🙁 … ).
• Brown sticky notes (I used the plain ones from this pack on Amazon, but you could also use regular kraft paper for this).
• Pastel lined paper (I used this pack from Filofax on Amazon).
• Sakura Gelly Roll: 10 Bold, white.
• Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pen: 990 Light Sand.
• Uni Pin Fine Line pen: 0.5, sepia.
• Assorted stickers (these pastel ones were from Søstrene Grene).
• Glue stick.
• Scissors.

The Initial Pages

I’ve kept the initial pages in this journal to an absolute minimum, because I didn’t want loads of different spreads and trackers that I’d need to keep up with, or an endless list of pages I needed to create. I admit, I’m not usually one for restraint (read: I’m almost never one for restraint), but, in the interest of preserving my creativity with this project, I thought it was an important approach to take!

I did, however, want these pages to be really colourful, cheery and, well, scrapbook-y, to set the right tone for the rest of the journal. I had great fun tearing up patterned paper, sticking in pastel stickers and trying desperately to think of lots of different fonts to create these spreads!

Cover Page

For the Cover Page, I went all out with the scrapbooking theme. I made the title (do scrapbooks have titles? They do, right?) by cutting the brown sticky notes into smaller pieces, then writing one letter on each with my white gel pen, trying my best to vary the fonts as much as possible! I was aiming for the whole magazine letters/ransom note vibe, but with a simpler colour palette (and less ransoming) to make sure that the heading really stood out against all the colours of the background. I also added a drop shadow to each piece of kraft paper that sat on the white background, using my Tombow brush pen.

Contents Page

Next up is the Contents Page. Because I wanted this scrapbook to be spontaneous and not follow too much of a strict order or layout, I thought a contents page would be a good thing to include, so that I can navigate between projects later on more easily. Helpfully, this journal has numbered pages, which is perfect for this!

I made the heading and decoration for this page in exactly the same way as the Cover Page, but I added one sheet of pastel lined paper on each page to write down the contents themselves. Not only does this add a little more colour and dimension to the spread, the lines on this Filofax paper are narrower than that of the journal pages’ dot grids, so it gives me a little more room!

Knitting & Crochet Timelines

Finally, we have my Knitting & Crochet Timelines. I went back and forth about including this spread, because I wasn’t sure if it was a necessary addition, but I ultimately decided that it would be nice to look back on and see what I was knitting and crocheting over this period, even if the projects weren’t intricate enough to warrant a full mood board setup in this scrapbook.

The setup for this spread was super similar to the Contents page, with the two pieces of lined paper to give me plenty of room to fill in all of my projects/dates. On the left-hand page, I’ll keep track of what I’m knitting (‘On My Needles’), while on the right-hand page, I’ll keep track of what I’m crocheting (‘On My Hook’).

Final Thoughts

I’m really excited about this new journal— I’ve been taking a little break from my usual bullet journalling and I do miss it, so this feels like a nice, creative outlet that scratches that itch without feeling too pressurised and time-dependent.

I’m also excited to see how my knitting projects develop from initial idea to finished works! I meant it when I said that I love a mood board and this scrapbook is basically just an excuse to mood board my little heart out, while simultaneously planning out and documenting my knits. What could be better?

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about this new project! I’m super excited to get going with it.

Gemma

xxx

I opted to make a lilac-infused ice cream as my first foray into the world of baking with lilac. It seemed like a good idea, because I always think that ice cream is a perfect blank canvas for trying new flavours or combinations. Plus, if it doesn’t taste good, you can just pretend it never existed and let it fester in your freezer until the end of time (I’m joking, of course…).

Reader, excellent decisions were made. This lilac ice cream is SO tasty: gently floral, but also sweet and rounded and kind of… cosy and warming? I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but Lilac Ice Cream kind of tastes like a floral rice pudding. Unexpected, yes, but absolutely delicious!

I’m sharing the recipe now, even though lilac season is coming to a swift end where I live, just in case there are any flowers still in bloom near you. Otherwise, you should absolutely save this recipe for next year, when the flowers come out again!

Ingredients

To make this Lilac Ice Cream, you will need:

• Lilac flowers

Lilac season is brief, but so beautiful! Make sure the lilac you’re using has not been sprayed with anything, so that it’s safe to eat. If you’re not lucky enough to have a lilac tree in your garden, you could ask a friend/neighbour, or forage a few sprigs from public land (making sure to do so sparingly and respectfully, of course!).

The lilac I’m using is a darker variety, but that’s absolutely fine— it all tastes the same, so use whatever you can find! The lilac doesn’t naturally impart any colour to the ice cream anyway (though it would have been pretty cool if it did!).

• Milk

Ideally, you should use whole milk to make ice cream, as this will give you the creamiest, richest texture and flavour. However, you can absolutely use skimmed/semi-skimmed milk instead, if you prefer (in fact, I often use skimmed milk for my ice creams, just because that’s what I usually have in the house).

• Double cream

If you’re in the US, use heavy cream.

• Caster sugar

I use golden caster sugar for this recipe, but white caster sugar will also work.

• Egg yolks

You don’t need the egg whites for this recipe, so save them for another recipe (perhaps one of my macaron recipes?). Egg whites freeze really well, so you don’t need to worry about wasting them.

How to Make Lilac Ice Cream

This Lilac Ice Cream takes a little while to make, but it’s mostly hands-off, chilling-in-the-fridge/freezer time! At its heart, this recipe is just a super simple ice cream base, with the dairy products infused with the fresh lilac flowers ahead of time.

Preparing the Lilac Flowers

First up, you need to prepare the lilac! When you first pick the lilac, you’ll see that it grows in heads (or, officially, panicles, which is a crazy name, right?). You’ll need approximately 2-3 heads of lilac for this recipe.

Place the lilac heads into a sieve/colander and rinse under cold water to remove any dirt, bugs or general, unwelcome impurities. Once clean, set them aside to dry off a little bit.

Once the lilac heads are mostly dry, it’s time to pick off the flowers. It’s important at this stage that you just get the little four-petalled flowers (and their little tubular bases), because any green stems/leaves will add bitterness to your ice cream (not the vibe). This process can be a bit time-consuming, but it’s quite satisfying (and very necessary!).

Once you have all of your flowers, place them into a medium bowl, ready for later. Then, you can get on with the infusing process!

Infusing the Cream

Typically, when you’re infusing dairy products, you get the best, most intense flavour by heating the milk/cream right up, until its just below a simmer, before adding your chosen additions and allowing the whole lot to steep for about 30 minutes. However, lilac has a super subtle, fresh flavour that actually benefits from a slower, slightly cooler infusing process, as detailed here.

Start by putting the milk and cream into a saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently while the mixture heats up.

Once the mixture is warm (but not hot), remove the pan from the heat and pour it over the prepared lilac flowers.

Press the flowers down into the cream mixture, then cover the bowl (either with a lid or with clingfilm) and place it into the fridge to infuse overnight. This gives the lilac plenty of time to transfer its fresh, floral flavour to the milk and cream.

Making the Ice Cream Base

The next day, strain the infused cream to remove the lilac flowers, pressing down on them in the sieve to extract as much flavour as possible. At this point, the lilac flowers can be discarded (RIP, but they’ve done such a good job!).

From this point onwards, this recipe is just a standard, run-of-the-mill ice cream recipe! If this is your first time making ice cream, you can find a full tutorial (with photos!) for this process in my Eggnog Ice Cream post!

Remove approximately 125ml of the infused cream and set it aside, then pour the rest into a saucepan with half of the sugar. Set over low heat and stir frequently until the mixture reaches just below a simmer.

While the cream is heating up, prepare the eggs. In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar. I like to use an electric hand whisk for this to ensure that the mixture gets super light and fluffy (it should reach the ‘ribbon stage’, where the mixture falls off the beaters in ribbons that sit on the surface for a few seconds before settling back into the rest of the mixture).

Add the reserved 125ml of infused cream to the eggs and stir through. This will slacken the mixture and make it easier to incorporate the hot cream without scrambling the eggs.

When the cream is hot, remove the pan from the heat. Pour it into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, stirring all the time until it is all combined. This is your custard base.

Now we have to thicken the custard, which ensures that the eggs are fully cooked and makes for a super thick, creamy ice cream. Pass the custard through a heatproof sieve back into the saucepan. This removes any little bits of cooked egg or impurities, so that you end up with a super smooth custard.

Place the saucepan back over low heat and stir frequently until the custard thickens. Once thick, the custard should coat the back of a wooden spoon. This will take about 10 minutes.

Pour the thickened custard into a heatproof jug, then cover the surface directly with a layer of clingfilm to prevent the custard from forming a skin. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then transfer it to the fridge to get nice and cold (at least 3-4 hours, preferably overnight) before churning.

Churning the Ice Cream

For churning ice cream, I use an older version of the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment. However, you can use any ice cream maker for this recipe! Just remember that if your machine has a bowl that needs to be frozen ahead of time, you need to put it into the freezer the day before you plan to churn the ice cream.

Once your machine is ready and your ice cream base is cold, you can get to churning! Get the machine running, then pour in the custard (this helps to prevent too much ice cream from freezing onto the sides of the bowl and damaging your machine). Allow the mixture to churn for 10-30 minutes (or according to your machine’s instructions), until thick and creamy.

Then, transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and place into the freezer to finish firming up for at least another 3 hours, or preferably overnight, before enjoying.

The ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, so you can enjoy your homemade, lilac-infused ice cream all summer long!

Recipe

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Lilac Ice Cream

A homemade ice cream infused with lilac flowers for a delicious, springtime treat!

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Ice cream, Lilac

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Chill/Freeze Time 1 day day

Total Time 1 day day 1 hour hour

Servings 1 pint

Equipment

• ice cream maker (I use the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment).

Ingredients

• 1 cup lilac flowers, washed and picked from approx. 2-3 heads of lilac (see Note 1).
• 300 ml milk (see Note 2).
• 300 ml double cream
• 120 g caster sugar, split into 2x60g portions (see Note 3).
• 3 egg yolks

Instructions

• The day before you plan to churn the ice cream, place the bowl of your ice cream maker into the freezer.

Infuse the cream:

• Put the lilac flowers into a medium bowl and set aside.
• Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and place over low heat. Allow to heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until warm (not hot).
• Pour the warm cream mixture over the lilac flowers. Cover the bowl, then place into the fridge to infuse overnight.

Make the ice cream base:

• Strain the cream mixture through a fine sieve to remove the lilac flowers, pressing down on the petals to extract as much flavour as possible. Set aside approx. 125ml of the strained mixture and pour the rest into a saucepan with half of the sugar (60g). Set over low heat and bring to just below a simmer, stirring frequently.
• While the cream mixture is heating up, prepare the eggs. Place the egg yolks and remaining 60g sugar into a heatproof bowl and beat with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy (the 'ribbon stage'). Add the reserved 125ml of infused cream and stir through to slacken the mixture.
• Once the cream/sugar mixture has come to just below a simmer, remove it from the heat and pour it into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, stirring all the time.
• Pass the mixture through a fine, heatproof sieve back into the saucepan (this will remove any pieces of egg and ensure the custard is smooth). Place the saucepan back over a low heat and stir frequently until the custard thickens. When it's ready, it should coat the back of a spoon— this should take about 10 minutes.
• Once the custard is thick, remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard into a heatproof jug. Cover the surface of the custard directly with clingfilm to prevent it from forming a skin. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then place it into the fridge to chill for at least 3-4 hours (preferably overnight).

Churn the ice cream base:

• Once the custard is cold, set up your ice cream maker as per your machine's instructions.
• With the machine running, pour the custard into the bowl and churn for 10-30 minutes, until thick and creamy.
• Transfer the churned ice cream to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight) before serving. The ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

1. To prepare the lilac flowers, place the heads into a sieve and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Set aside to dry a little, then carefully pick off the individual flowers, making sure to avoid any green stems/leaves, which will make your ice cream bitter. 
2. Ideally, you should use whole milk for this recipe— it will give you the richest, creamiest flavour and texture! However, I have made this ice cream with skimmed milk and it is still delicious, so use whatever you have!
3. I use golden caster sugar, but white caster sugar will also work.