Welcome to the first day of pattern reveals for Migraineur, my book coming out this month. (Soft release date: December 15!) Every other day, up till Christmas, I’ll share one of the patterns in the forthcoming book. Think of it as a little pattern Advent.
Let me introduce you to: Fernhead!
I know precious little about the medical side of migraines, but from an experiential point of view, I categorize my migraines by the direction and location of pain. There’s one in particular that tends to pulsate over the top of the skull, go down through one sinus, and cause referred pain in my teeth. For some reason, I imagined a fern laid on top of my head, dripping that pain from sinus to incisors. It does sound very strange when I write it down.
I grew up in a temperate forest, and I always loved finding ferns. They grow in the older parts of the woods behind my parents’ house, in the lower and flatter areas near water. Up here, there are several varieties of alpine ferns that I find growing in the rocks. I find their symmetry irresistible, and who doesn’t love a fiddlehead?
To make these arctic ferns, I used three shades of green in Milarrochy Tweed to create a subtle gradient from less saturated to more saturated. For the background, I used two light blues and a grey to go from less contrast at the brim to more at the top. The crown sees all five ferns come together. It took a lot of experimentation to create a graphic fern that has some movement to it, without too many long floats.
This colourway uses a seventh shade, “Thrift,” to create accents in the form of adapted French knots. I’ve given thorough instructions on how to make them.
This is one of my favourite patterns in the collection simply because of the flow of colours. The shades of Milarrochy Tweed are made to go together, and it’s a large enough colour palette that you could make a fade in any shade fairly easily. This would also be a fun use for two handspun gradients: I might take use a blending board to create the mix of colours across, then spin them into a single for the foreground or background, or make two gradients for both.
I’ll be back in two days with this hat in another colourway, along with the next pattern. Happy December!
Thanks to Rebekka Sanguin for modeling this sample.
Ebook will be launched when print book is available for ordering, on or about December 15.
Osborn Fiber Studio 
This is lovely!
I totally get how the visuals you get from a migraine sound strange when you try to explain them. It’s like you get so much sensory data that you can’t *not* convert it into some kind of imagery.
I used to get a particular kind of migraine aura that was like brightly colored lines sliding horizontally back and forth in my peripheral vision, and it made me think of those desk toys that have stuff suspended in some kind of liquid. This one would be bright sticks of something super heavily pigmented, hexagonal, all packed together, and sliding past each other when you tip it back and forth.
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Yes! Exactly! I used to get auras when I was a kid and I remember seeing bubbles. I didn’t really think about auras because I don’t get them but that’s real visual element that would be really interesting to capture in art. Thanks for sharing your images.
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