Want to see some knitted pictures of the Oxfordshire landscape?
Those of you who’ve been here for so long that the seat of your chair has moulded itself to the shape of your perfectly-proportioned posterior may remember this post. Executive summary: I set off around south Oxfordshire in search of the perfect view to photograph for a yarn-related project, and ended up finding a door that may – or may not – have been the portal to another dimension.
Anyway.
The project in question was this: I wanted to design knitted or crocheted pictures of the Oxfordshire countryside, each portraying a different season. In a pub near here, there is a framed set of four photographs of the same (local) scene, taken in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The Stoic Spouse was impressed and wondered whether we should attempt something similar. But why spend seconds taking a photograph when you can spend hours (and hours) knitting the same thing instead?
It’s not the first time I’ve knitted the scenery. In my old job, I sometimes drove home to this view (FREE PATTERN ALERT!):-
(There’s a crochet version, too.)
My task, this time, would have been easier if Oxfordshire had been a teeny bit more mountainous. Our embarrassing lack of mountains is something that irks me considerably. I’ve complained to the county council about the matter, but to no avail. So I’m forced to work with the materials at hand and let’s face it, Oxfordshire could at best be considered slightly hilly (except when I’m out for a run, at which point it starts feeling positively Himalayan).
The idea slowly grew. I’ve been quietly playing with knitting and crocheting landscape-like images for a while now, with varying success. Experimentation taught me that the three techniques which combine to yield the best result are knitting, short-rows, and intarsia. (I’m usually not a fan of intarsia, but needs must.)
I sketched the landscape that I wanted to (re)create.
Given the problems that I’d had finding the right view, I decided to design a generic Oxfordshire-like landscape, with the important exception that I included the (very real) Wittenham Clumps. You can see them top right of the scenery in each picture.
The slightly lower of the two is an ancient hill fort, photographed up-close in this post:-
The knitting was surprisingly easy. I worked in rows from the bottom of the design upwards. I wrote down everything that I did and often, I’d rip back a section and try it in a different way. Great swathes of text in my pattern-writing notebook were crossed out in angry black pen. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, with a little bit of Stylecraft Tweedy in the foreground.
The shapes of the fields were created using short rows, as I knitted back and forth (and back and forth) on the sections that needed to be raised. In some of the fields, various rib stitches imply lines of crops or recent ploughing.
Mostly, it was fun. Mostly. Every few rows, I transferred the whole lot to some spare yarn and spread it over my sketch, to see where I was up to and plan the next few rows. After all the faffing and planning, the actual designing and knitting was surprisingly easy.
The first season that I made was summer, so that’s where most of the frogging and re-working happened. About half-way up, I changed my mind about both the colour and the stitch of one of the fields lower down. It’s always good for your knitting confidence to remind yourself that you can drop stitches down and raise them up again without the entire thing spontaneously unravelling into a fluffy tangle of failure and crushed dreams, but replacing a long-completed patch of intarsia was daunting. I proceeded nervously, using needles and two crochet hooks. Honestly, I felt like a neurosurgeon. “2mm hook please, nurse.” The operation was successful and the patient survived.
Onwards.
I ended up with a surprisingly neat rectangle of knitting. Using the instructions that I’d scribbled along the way, I knitted three more pieces, identical except for different colours to reflect each season, and small changes in the ribbing.
They needed a bit more detail, though, don’t you think? So I embroidered a few lengths of hedgerow and some poppies (summer) and hints of snow (winter).
And then, it was done. Look!
Do you know, I’m actually fairly pleased with them?
These are fantastic – well done, you!
Amazing!
Lushness! X
Can you do one of my village???? ????
Hmmm…. Depends on the village…
we have mountains if that helps the decision…. ????
(Bern, Switzerland)
That does help…
Amazing! I would have never thought to have written down the directions as I went so that the scenes could be recreated in different colors. And I really love the embroidered touches.
Both detailed patience and a big vision. Hats off!!! Thanks for sharing
Stunning, I love them. Very recognisable too! Liz B
Just beautiful! I am – as so often – in awe at the wonderful things you can create with yarn. Bravo!
They look so good together and framed ❤????????
Oh my you are so inspiring, all I can say is WOW!
Well those are just fabulous. You are so creative.
What they all said. Kudos!
I love your beautiful, artistic work with knitting. I imagine it is very difficult. What about cot blankets with night-time scenes.
I just want to say “ditto” to all the comments – you are so fabulous!
You are so talented!!
thanks so much for sharing your process!
regards,
daisy 🙂
Others have already used the words I wanted to use! These are great, thanks for sharing them xx
Hard enough to photo the same landscape four times, and you go ten stpes further and knit the landscape. Incredible skill and a unique project, so you should feel very proud, love them. I wonder still about knitttng that door?
A wonderful yearlong project executed with military precision, well done, you should be very pleased and proud of them……
Well! You so amaze me, these knitted pictures are so very clever, what a talented girl you are. I just love your blog, and when they appear in my mail, I hurry to read them, I also love your sense of the rediculous, keep on blogging ……please. Daphne
That is marvellous! What a fabulous creation. And once the memory of the time and effort it took to create them wears off, you might even be able to enjoy looking at them! ????
So you should be, they’re amazing!
I love them!
They look really good. Well done you!
They look really good. Well done you!
Wow! These are gorgeous!
very inspiring.
wow!!! totally gorgeous
Wow. Wow!!
The amazing part is that I can recognize the specific details you added but the landscape looks reminiscent of other places, including Pennsylvania. That’s not a knock; I think that’s part of the beauty.
I agree with the comment(s) above that perhaps the door needs to be knitted. Perhaps the door in the center bottom of a square with the alternate universe scene behind and around? I have visions of embroidered dragons peaking around the door.
Again, Wow.
Beautiful, and so clever!
These are gorgeous! You are so creative! <3
It is a shame that Oxford lacks mountains though. It would be such a simple way to improve the county. 😉
I absolutely love these. Has got me thinking of making my own scenes of where I live. Don’t know if I’ll ever do it but I sure love thinking about it. ????
You are very clever
Superb. I am imagining what you could do with mountains!!
I want to try something like this but I don’t think I’d have the patience.
They are fantastic.
This is actually so cool! You’ve inspired me
You are a hard worker. I I can see it’s worth to be hard working person as you are
wow. I can see painting with paint or using pastels or charcoal but knitting an intricate scene like this? Truly amazing ????love it.
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