The Stories Hidden in Knitting Patterns

Some patterns carry more than beauty. They carry places, people and stories.

At first glance, a knitting pattern can seem like decoration.

A row of stitches. A repeating motif. A delicate lace surface.

But look a little closer, and sometimes an entire world begins to appear.

Patterns can tell us about the places where they were knitted. The materials people had around them. The hands that knew them, and the skills passed from one generation to the next.

Before knitting patterns found their way into books and magazines, many of them lived like this - in memory and in the hands of the people who made them.

One person taught another.

One pattern travelled on.

And each new pair of hands could leave something of its own behind.

Perhaps that is why I have always felt such a pull towards old knitting and lace patterns.

The patterns we return to

The beauty of some patterns is immediately visible.

Others have something more difficult to explain.

You want to look closer. To understand how they were made. To know where they came from.

My own roots reach towards Northern Europe, and perhaps there is something in that which draws me, again and again, to Nordic lace patterns and old knitting traditions.

I love the contrast within them.

Something as practical as wool yarn can become extraordinarily delicate in someone’s hands. Through a few increases, decreases and repetitions, a pattern appears that feels both structured and light.

Sometimes I find an old pattern and simply stop to look at it.

Who knitted it for the first time?

Who taught them?

How many times has the pattern changed before reaching us?

We may never know all the answers.

Perhaps that is part of what makes old patterns so fascinating.

One pattern, many lives

Knitting traditions have never stood completely still.

People moved. Skills travelled. Ideas travelled.

Some motifs remained closely connected to a particular place. Others changed over time. An old technique could find an entirely new life through a different yarn, colour or silhouette.

That idea feels very close to me.

Because respecting tradition does not have to mean copying the past.

An old lace pattern can find a new colour.

A traditional structure can appear on a contemporary cardigan.

Something once knitted in one corner of the world can inspire someone decades or centuries later, somewhere entirely different.

An old pattern can begin a new chapter.

From one part of the world to another

Nordic patterns are part of my own story, but I do not want the inspiration behind Adèle & Soleil to end there.

The world is full of extraordinary knitting, lace and textile traditions.

From Japan to France, from the Nordic countries to the British Isles, people have found ways of turning yarn, cloth and craftsmanship into something with a language of its own.

Some of these stories are already familiar to me.

Others I am only beginning to discover.

And I love the thought that, over time, some of them may find their way into Adèle & Soleil collections too.

Not as copies.

But as starting points.

A pattern, a detail or an old craft technique might spark the first idea that eventually becomes something entirely new - a new colour, a new material, a new silhouette, a new knit.

Something with a past, made to live in the present.

Why knitwear sits at the heart of Adèle & Soleil

Stories behind every piece

Perhaps this is one of the ideas at the heart of Adèle & Soleil.

That a beautiful piece can carry a story.

Sometimes it begins with a material.

Why Is Merino Wool So Special?

Sometimes with a place.

Sometimes with an old lace pattern, once knitted by someone’s hands long before ours.

The world of Adèle & Soleil already brings together Northern roots and life in Southwest France.

But that world is not finished.

I want it to gather more stories over time. From different places, different craft traditions and people who were creating beauty with their hands long before us.

We do not yet know where the next story will come from.

And perhaps that is the most beautiful part.

There are still so many stories to discover.

Toujours le Soleil. ☀️

By Pillé Lauring Labruyère

Co-Founder, Designer & Creative Director of Adèle & Soleil