Cultivate: Knitting the Beauty of Nature (Dee Hardwick and Jonna Helin)

Knitting the Beauty of Nature is a collaboration between talented designers Dee Hardwicke and Jonna Helin, who come together to celebrate the beauty of everyday simplicity through the art of knitting, and together bring you 20 timeless knitting patterns, to bring beauty and elegance to your days. 

Dee Hardwicke has drawn on botanical motifs including leaves, trees, flowers, and vines and worked them into a range of beautiful nature-inspired scarves. With small all-over designs, or larger motifs, there is something for everyone. These are showcased alongside Jonna’s effortless, elegant designed-to-last sweaters and dresses, that are perfect on their own and also act as the perfect backdrop for the scarves. 

The scarves are all squares in a wide range of yarn weights, and use duplicate stitch for their motifs, which means they are accessible to adventurous beginners – and you can mix and match motifs to suit you. The garments are all elegant shapes, and range from easy to intermediate. All are accompanied with lush, beautiful photos. 

A passion project between two friends, in their first collaboration, Dee and Jonna invite you to cultivate inspiration from the world around you, creating knitwear that is both simple and profoundly beautiful. They wanted to capture the beauty of shared creativity, envisioning scarves adorned with leaves and petals, draped around necks as folk wandered through fields and forests in dresses and rubber boots. Their goal was to blend the rugged with the delicate, to find balance in contrasts: mohair meeting muddy tyres, and the everyday coexisting with the exquisite. Dee and Jonna uniquely capture the world around them, bringing it to life through their knitwear designs. Cultivate is much more than just a collection of knitted scarves and garments — it is a celebration of the beauty of everyday simplicity through the art of knitting.

Patterns

The book includes 20 knitting patterns: 15 scarves, 3 sweaters and 2 dresses.

All garment patterns come in 9 sizes and are graded to fit at least a 152 cm/60 inch chest.

Scarves are all square in various yarn weights with mix and match duplicate-stitch motifs. 

Pattern list: Albarn Sweater, Liberty Sweater, Sally Sweater, Frankie Dress, Liberty Dress, Achillea Scarf, Butterfly Sampler Scarf, Clematis Scarf, Dreaming in the Park Scarf, Embroidered Achillea Scarf, Garden Party Scarf, In the Wild Scarf, Limonium Apricot Scarf, Parterre Scarf, Peony Scarf, Pressings Scarf, Rose Scarf, Under the Midnight Moon Scarf, Walled Garden Scarf, Wallflower Scarf. 

About Dee Hardwicke and Jonna Helin

Dee Hardwicke is a British artist, designer and knitter whose work is deeply inspired by Britain’s ever-changing landscapes and cottage gardens. Her sketchbooks serve as a visual diary of her life, capturing the enchanting details of nature. Dee’s creativity spans multiple mediums, from knitting to collaborations with esteemed partners like the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the National Trust, where her artistic vision is brought to life through beautiful flooring, tableware and stationery.

Jonna Helin is the creative soul behind Laine Publishing, with 25 years of experience in the publishing industry. Raised in a family of crafters, she grew up listening to the rhythmic clicking of knitting needles, the soundtrack of her life. For Jonna, knitting is a sanctuary, offering peace and calm from the demands of daily life and soothing her busy mind.