Fancy Nancy

While revising my Pattern Tests page I noticed that I still haven‘t shown my Fancy Nancy square. Shame! So I thought I would write a quick post to catch up!

Fancy Nancy is a design by Pam Knighton-Haener from a Yarn of Serendipity. I tested this pattern already in October last year.

Normally her squares are designed to use an Aran cotton yarn. I must confess not exactly my favorite yarn. At least I haven‘t found one I like to work with yet. So this time I decided to try my standard acrylic DK yarn. Just to see how it works.

I used Stylecraft Special DK in Copper, Parchment and Gold, my favorite autumn colours. I followed her colour scheme 2 and only switched the colour for the last round.

With Aran the squares should be 28 cm (11 inch) or about 30 cm (12 inch) depending on the hook size. With DK yarn my Fancy Nancy became 25 x 25 cm (about 10 inch) tall.

I am very pleased with my result although I assume a cotton yarn would work better. Pat uses a lot of trebles and double trebles in her patterns. These stitches just look better when they are blocked. Unfortunately I still have problems to block acrylic yarn properly.

I started testing for Pam in September 2020 and since then had the opportunity to test four of her lovely squares. Well, five, to be correct! I just finished testing her latest design. The pattern has not been published yet, so I cannot show it. But what I can show again are the squares I have made so far.

Maybe I should get some suitable cotton yarn and make some more? One day it would make a beautiful blanket.

All of Pam’s designs are so rich in texture, they would even look great in a solid colour.

If you would like to try one of Pam’s designs just visit her Ravelry store. She also offers some of her patterns for free, have a look!