I’ve been revisiting my pattern archives and yesterday came across the original, hand-drawn chart for the Mona Lisa sweater featured in my first book “Knitting masterpieces”. I’m so pleased that I have kept this piece as I love the fact that I have scribbled the calculations and notes around the pencil crayon drawing – it’s a real working drawing.
Discovering this piece also took me back to how the original idea for this sweater was borne out of a challenge from the late Paula Yates. I was invited to have dinner with Paula at my friend Karen Manner’s flat in Maida Vale; Karen was a fashion PR and wife of singer songwriter BA Robertson and since leaving fashion school I had been commissioned by BA to knit him an array of intricate intarsia sweaters for TV and film appearances. With her music biz connections, Paula fell in love with the Beatles Abbey Road album cover sweater, which I had knitted for BA – it was particularly hilarious. After a couple of glasses of wine, I found myself rising to the challenge to knit the Mona Lisa; I started working on the chart the following day (no doubt nursing a proper hangover) “Knitting Masterpieces” was great fun to write, in part because Karen organised for the knitwear to be modelled by celebrities. Paula was pregnant at the time of the photo shoot, so the Mona Lisa sweater was modelled by a friend of mine, a little known, jobbing actress called Michelle Collins…… the Mona Lisa sweater story continues.
Paula Yates 1959 -2000. British TV presenter, writer, mother and a great laugh. RIP.
