The murmur of a cool stream...

The murmur of a cool stream,
Bird song, ripe fruit in plenty,
Bright multicoloured tulips
and fragrant roses.

This poem depicting an ideal garden was written in about 1258 by Sa'adi in his work Gulistan. It sounds like the perfect description of a garden even today. You can almost smell the fragrance of the roses as you walk along the garden path.

We were fortunate enough to live in Kyoto a few years back, and one of our favourite places to visit when we lived there was the Botanical Gardens. No matter what the season, it was always beautiful. We still visit Japan frequently, and always make sure to revisit the gardens when we are nearby.
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On our last visit there in the Spring, we were astonished to see a wonderful display of tulips. The gardeners had been busy planting several thousand bulbs, and there was an incredible variety of different flowers on show. Some were modern varieties with multiple petals and almost looked like rose-buds.

However, the ones that impressed me most were the traditional single flowers. They just have such an elegant simplicity. Set out into their rows and grids they had an order and pattern which emphasised their beauty and structure. As I sat looking at them, I thought how lovely they would be if captured in a knitted design.

​I went back to the hotel and charted the idea for a new lace pattern, and as I began knitting the tulips started forming row by row, line by line just as I had seen them ...

... and that was the inspiration for the FFCT Wrap that you can  see in the photo above.

​​The FFCT acronym in the pattern title stands for 'Feather & Fan, Cables & Tulips' and that was just what inspired me in the gardens... The regularity of the tulip plantings, the design of the flowers, the proud way they stood on their sturdy little stems and the way their leaves danced in the warm breeze.

But of course, it's not just botanical gardens that can provide inspiration – some wild daffodils by a way-side path gave me the idea for a butter-yellow scarf for the summer. Then later I found myself sitting on a log and knitting while my husband was taking the photo above. This shows a rapeseed field near Kimpton Church in Hertfordshire and the scarf then earned its name, the Kimpton Scarf.
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So here's an idea for your summer knitting: search for some inspiration from your forays into new and exciting gardens and landscapes on your travels.
... perhaps the white garden at Sissinghurst in Kent will inspire an item all in white,
... or the bright reds of poppies in a summer hayfield in France will give you ideas for a super-colourful sweater.

Whether you just inspired by the colours you see, or wish to capture some other aspect of the scene, your finished project will be sure to bring your holiday memories back to life.

If you are enjoying this "Summer Knitting" series and would like to read the first Knitting Notes post in the series, then please click here and follow the links at the bottom to get back to this point. Next time, I will be looking at different yarn overs and how you can use them in your own design work!

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 For information about any of the patterns featured here or our
Reversible Knitting Stitches book, ​please click the Patterns tab above.

For more blogposts & knitting notes
​please see the index list on the right of this page ---->

Many thanks to my husband Tim for his photo of Kimpton Church.
If would like to see more of his pictures, please visit his Flickr Page.

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