Rowan Knitted with Love Knit Along - Release One - Downloadable PDF

Rowan Knitted with Love Knit Along – Release One: Floral Heart Square by Martin Storey

About This Pattern

Release One of the Rowan Knitted with Love Knit Along (KAL) introduces the Floral Heart Square, designed by Martin Storey for Rowan. This downloadable PDF is the first instalment in a knit-along series that builds toward finished projects including blankets, throws, and cushions. The square itself forms the foundational motif from which larger projects are constructed, making this an exciting and rewarding ongoing series for intermediate knitters.

What Is Being Made

The pattern covers the construction of a Floral Heart Square — a decorative knitted square featuring a colourwork heart and floral motif worked from a chart. These squares are designed to be combined into larger finished items, specifically:

• Large Blanket — worked in colourway A Lemon 908 and B White 900
• Medium Blanket — worked in colourway A Marine 905 and B White 900
• Cushion 1 — worked in colourway A Routemaster 909 and B White 900

Each colourway gives the same Floral Heart Square a distinctly different character, from fresh and sunny to bold nautical and striking red, allowing knitters to personalise their finished piece or follow the designer's original vision.

Yarn and Materials

The yarn specified for this pattern is Rowan Island Blend, a yarn well suited to colourwork knitting thanks to its smooth, consistent construction that allows chart motifs to read clearly and crisp colour transitions to be achieved. Two colours are used per square in a two-colour stranded technique. The specific shade combinations are:

• Large Blanket: Lemon 908 (Colour A) and White 900 (Colour B)
• Medium Blanket: Marine 905 (Colour A) and White 900 (Colour B)
• Cushion 1: Routemaster 909 (Colour A) and White 900 (Colour B)

Specific needle sizes are referenced within the full pattern instructions as provided in the downloadable PDF.

Techniques Used

This pattern is rated intermediate in difficulty, making it ideal for knitters who are comfortable with the basics and ready to develop their colourwork skills. The key techniques employed include:

• Stranded colourwork (Fair Isle / Norwegian technique): The Floral Heart motif is worked from a chart using two colours simultaneously, carried across the back of the work. This is described in the pattern as being worked in Norwegertechnik (Norwegian technique), where both yarns are managed across each row to create the colourwork design.
• Chart reading: The 43-stitch wide motif is worked from a written chart over 42 rows, requiring the knitter to follow a colourwork chart row by row, tracking position carefully across both right-side and wrong-side rows.
• Seed stitch border (Perlmuster): A 3-stitch seed stitch (moss stitch) border is maintained on both sides of the square throughout, framing the colourwork motif and adding a neat, stable edge. This border continues on every row regardless of the colourwork pattern placement.
• Colour management: After the 42 chart rows are complete, Colour B is cut and the remainder of the square is worked in Colour A only, demonstrating clean colour management and yarn joining/cutting within a project.

Stitches Used

• Stocking stitch (stockinette): The main body of the square and the colourwork section are worked in stocking stitch, creating a smooth, flat fabric on which the chart motif is clearly visible.
• Seed stitch / Moss stitch (Perlmuster): A consistent 3-stitch seed stitch border is worked at each side edge on every row, providing structure and preventing the edges from curling