I’ve been enjoying designing with twisted stitches lately, their crisp three dimensional structure gives both excellent stitch definition and allows them to stand proud against a background.

The first of these two features, the crisp stitch definition, is evident in the recently released Lucrezia socks and an as yet unreleased sock pattern that I’m really looking forward to sharing with you in the future.

The second feature, prominence against a background, is something I’ve explored in the Verna Cowl where the lines of twisted stitches remind me of ears of wheat and hence the name Verna, of which more below.

As you can see the twisted stitches are beautifully distinct, as is the little cable. Both combine to create direction and texture and I hope a strikingly structural and polished finish.

As with many of my patterns, achieving a sophisticated finish needn’t be difficult. Instead it depends on a good set up and smooth transitions, such as from the rib into the textured stitches and the cable, working to create the characteristics you want in the fabric, in this case working with bias, and helped along with clear instructions and options, for example, for working the cable with or without a cable needle. Moreover, in the pattern you’ll find both written instructions and charted instructions so you can work to your preferred method.

The Verna cowl is knit in the round starting from the bottom rib, working through the bias pattern section, to the top rib. The shaping is achieved through both changing needle sizes and decreasing the number of stitches. This creates a shape that I really like in a cowl; one that sits nicely on the shoulders and closes in around the neck for maximum warmth and cosiness. It is also the perfect shape for a slightly open fronted coat or jacket with which you can also admire the pattern detail of the cowl to its fullest.

I’ve worked my sample in dLana Madrilana DK yarn in the colour way Camel Merzouga a wonderfully tweedy golden colour. At 235m in a 100g skein this is a lovely squishy yarn that knits up equally nicely when working from 4.5mm (US7) to 3.75mm (US5) needles. Isn’t that stitch definition amazing!

The cowl is easily achieved in a single skein so it’s a great pattern for trying out a new to you yarn, or if you have an odd skein of DK left from from a larger project.

You can find all the links to purchase the pattern from my usual outlets on Ravelry, Payhip and LoveCrafts on the Pattern Page.

Why Verna?

Verna is the name of an ancient variety of wheat that is local to us here in Tuscany. It itself was named after the Verna locality in the Casentino valley of the Tuscan Apennines, now part of the Casentino Forest National Park, and home of the Franciscan Sanctuary where Saint Frances of nearby Assisi is believed to have received the stigmata in 1224.

First developed in the 1930s to be suitable for extending agriculture into Tuscany’s marginal hilly landscape, Verna was part of a movement to improve food availability at a time when Italian food was more notable for its scarcity than anything else. It then fell out of favour in the post second world war period when the industrialisation of food production required higher levels of gluten in wheat for optimal processing than Verna offered.

In recent years it has again begun to find a market again because what it lacks in gluten it makes up for in nutrients, and it has become popular among those interested in healthy, locally grown food, with clear provenance and short supply chains.

As a result, producers are again embracing these ancient grains which are also more suited to renewed interest in agroecological and regenerative agriculture approaches. Whilst they may be less productive, they need less chemical fertiliser inputs and are naturally more disease and fungus resistant.

At a time when we are becoming increasingly aware of our vulnerability to the food as commodity approach characterised by vast, distant supply chains and international pricing, a more local approach is gaining momentum.

Interestingly, this concern which often gets talked about in terms of ‘food sovereignty’ emerges from debates that focus not only on food production as an end in itself, but also on the culture and practice of food from soil to consumption. In Italy this commitment to ancient food varieties, animal and plant, local production, and the cultural and social practices associated with food had come together in the increasingly global slow food movement. *

With this all said, I should perhaps have used a local to me yarn, or perhaps one that is covered by a slow food presidio, but that yarn is already destined for another project. The yarn I have instead chosen, however, represents in fibre form many of the concerns that Verna reflects in wheat.

Why dLana Madrilana?

The Madrilana DK I’ve used is from Spanish wool producers dLana.

I first met Esther and Javier of dLana at their booth at Knit Eat Lyon in 2023 where I fell in love with their Madrilana yarn and bought myself a sweater’s quantity. The yarn was on the needles before I left Lyon and the Elah cardigan I made with it remains in regular rotation in my wardrobe.

When I spoke to Esther and Javier about their yarns however, it became increasingly clear that they are not just wonderfully soft and beautifully tweedy, but they represent something much more.

The history of Spanish wool production is a long and illustrious one and the merino takes central stage in that story. Wool once referred to as ‘white gold’ was the cornerstone of the Spanish economy for 6 centuries up until the 18th century. More recently, however, this history is one of decline and shrinking capacity to process wool in Spain, with the vast majority of fibre exported for processing abroad and entering the global wool market. Wool, like wheat, has become a commodity implicated in global supply chains to the detriment of local producers.

Instead dLana are working to once again valorise and support local producers whose wool has been overlooked and devalued. Also like wheat, concerns about the provenance, production and equity of supply chains, along with animal welfare are increasingly shaping our crafting decisions and the choice of wool we buy and choose to clothe ourselves with.

dLana’s Madrilana wool is a merino wool, spun in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Like their other yarns, it is produced in collaboration with local producers and artisans. Mulesing is not practiced in Spain so this is not a concern and the yarn is not treated with harsh chemicals and is not super wash treated. Colours are produced by a range of methods including blending naturally coloured wools to create naturals from white through grey, using Oeko-Tex dyes, and some yarns are naturally dyed.

In addition to making their own yarns, dLana are also opening their own mill where they will be increasing the productive capacity in the Spanish wool industry and opening that up to small producers so that they too can turn their own fibre into yarn.

For the sake of transparency, I should say that I am in no way affiliated with dLana or sponsored by them. I paid for my yarn fair and square and I am more than happy to do so. I simply love their yarn and love what they are doing. Their commitment to sustainable local production is literally something I want to buy into and that is something I want to share with you, through this blog and through my designs.

As I said, the Verna Cowl takes just one skein of Madrilana DK so is the perfect opportunity to try the yarn for yourselves to see what you think. I bought my yarn online here in Italy from lalanà, but you can buy direct from dLana or one of their stockists worldwide. I hope you love the yarn as much as I do and you enjoy knitting and wearing the Verna Cowl.

Any questions on the pattern, or indeed any of the other issues that I’ve touched on very lightly here, please do ask in the comments.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting,

Tess xxxx

*If you’re interested in reading a more academic, and much lengthier, account of ancient grains, contemporary food culture and food security, and have access via an academic institution or sign up for a personal account, you can access an article I co-authored, titled; ‘Landraces, Crop Improvement, and the Politics of Food Security’ here . It was published last year in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science.