Sep 09, 2026

Bound for Beauly: The Story Behind Corinne's New Sweater

Hand-knit sweater with a lace eyelet pattern across the yoke — The Beauly Sweater, a DK-weight top-down design with an eyelet yoke that carries a little of Scotland in its lace.

A new sweater is coming to The Woolly Thistle this October, and longtime Thistlers may already have caught an early glimpse!

Corinne first shared the Beauly Sweater at our recent retreat, where attendees had the chance to see the design before testing was fully underway. Since then, a group of test knitters has been putting the pattern through its paces while Corinne works through the final details ahead of its October release.

Beauly is a DK-weight, top-down yoke sweater with an eyelet pattern carrying a little piece of Scotland within its design. Its name, lace, and even one carefully placed detail in the yoke all trace back to a Highland village Corinne remembers well.

The Village Behind the Name

A small Scottish Highland village with stone buildings and a quiet street — The Highland village of Beauly, the inspiration behind the sweater's name.

Beauly is a small Highland village about 11 miles west of Inverness, set close to the River Beauly and Beauly Firth. Its history stretches back centuries, and at the heart of the village stand the ruins of the medieval priory that would eventually lend Corinne part of the inspiration for this sweater.

Flower boxes lining a village street — Flower boxes bloom along the village streets.

A garden bench in the village of Beauly — A quiet spot where you can sit and immerse yourself in the beauty of Beauly.

Corinne stayed in Beauly with her friend Amber around a decade ago during a family trip to Scotland. She remembers boxes spilling over with flowers during an unusually hot Scottish summer. The place remained in her memory long after the trip, and years later, as this sweater began to take shape, Beauly offered both its name and the architectural detail that helped define the yoke.

Lace Inspired by Stone and Saltire

The ruins of Beauly Priory, founded around 1230 beside the River Beauly.

Beauly Priory was founded around 1230 after local landowner Sir John Bisset invited monks of the Valliscaulian order to settle beside the River Beauly. The Valliscaulians originated in Burgundy in France and followed a particularly austere monastic rule. Beauly was one of only three Valliscaulian priories established in Scotland, alongside Ardchattan and Pluscarden. Religious life continued at Beauly for more than 300 years, and the surviving church still preserves architectural features dating to different periods of its medieval history.

Today the church stands roofless, its stone walls framing tall arched openings and windows that are open to the sky. Those surviving shapes came back to Corinne's memory as she saw a connection between the openings in the lace and the glassless windows of Beauly Priory, giving the eyelet pattern a link to the place behind the sweater's name.

A tall arched stone window frame with no glass, sky visible through it — Tall arched windows now open to the sky, their glass long gone.

Gothic window openings in a roofless church wall — The bare openings and arches Corinne saw echoed in the eyelets of the yoke.

She then worked a Scottish symbol into the yoke: a cross inspired by the Saltire, Scotland's flag of St. Andrew. The detail sits within the lace as Corinne's own small nod to Scotland, joining the priory windows as another piece of the landscape and history carried into the design.

The flag of Scotland, a white diagonal cross on a blue background — The Saltire, Scotland's flag of St. Andrew, echoed in small crosses worked into the lace.

The Beauly Sweater Closeup

Beauly is worked top down in the round, beginning at the neckline. Short rows raise the back of the neck slightly before the knitting moves into the eyelet yoke, and the lace instructions are provided both charted and written. Corinne describes the pattern as straightforward, with the patterned section giving way to a relaxed body once the yoke is complete.

Close view of the lace yoke and upper body of the sweater — The eyelet pattern in detail, worked from a chart or written instructions, whichever you prefer.

There is no waist shaping in the written pattern, though knitters can add it if they prefer. The sleeves also keep shaping fairly minimal through most of their length, with faster decreases worked nearer the cuff to create Corinne's relaxed sleeve shape. She designed the yoke so that the lace finishes just above the wearer's widest point, keeping the openwork concentrated across the upper portion of the sweater.

The sleeves are worked to a bracelet length, a detail Corinne also used in the Vanilla Sweater. It is a practical everyday length that keeps the cuffs clear while you are cooking, working, or knitting, and it gives the sweater an easy shape that does not need to be pushed or rolled back throughout the day.

The construction keeps much of the interest near the beginning of the project, followed by long stretches of uncomplicated knitting through the body and sleeves. Corinne describes it as a quick, enjoyable knit, and the early test versions are already showing how the same design changes character in two different DK-weight wools.

Beauly in Rauma Strikkegarn

Beauly in Strikkegarn by Rauma — Beauly in Rauma Strikkegarn, a woolen-spun DK yarn with a light, airy hand.

When Corinne begins developing a new sweater, she often reaches for yarns in the Rauma family. The Norwegian mill has been part of The Woolly Thistle since the early days, and Corinne knows these yarns exceptionally well after years of knitting with them, designing with them, and seeing how they hold up in finished garments. Strikkegarn was therefore a natural starting point for Beauly, giving her a familiar foundation to work with as she developed the yoke, proportions, and lace.

Strikkegarn has been in production since 1927 and is still carded, spun, dyed, and balled at Rauma’s mill in Norway. Its round 3-ply construction gives it a buoyant, substantial feel while keeping the finished fabric relatively light. The yarn wears well, resists pilling, and has the structure required to show off the eyelets clearly, while also settling comfortably into the long stretches of stockinette that make up the body and sleeves.

Strikkegarn also became the yarn for one of the earliest test versions of Beauly. Renee was Corinne's first tester as the pattern was being prepared for the wider test knit, and Beauly was also her first sweater knitted in Rauma Strikkegarn, a yarn that quickly won her over.

A finished hand-knit sweater in light Strikkegarn wool worn by a knitter — Renee's Strikkegarn version Beauly.

Although Renee does not consider herself much of a lace knitter, she found the Beauly eyelets very manageable and completed her sweater in just four days. That pace will naturally vary by knitter, but her experience gives us an encouraging early look at the rhythm of the pattern. Renee also plans to share the tricks she used while knitting the lace when she makes another Beauly and films a video about the process.

Her first version follows Corinne's specifications, including the shorter sleeve length, which lands around bracelet length on Renee. It is already marked out for regular wear this fall.

Skeins of Rauma Strikkegarn yarn — Rauma Strikkegarn, the wool behind Corinne's original sample.

Shop Rauma Strikkegarn (opens in new tab)

Beauly in Peer Gynt

Lace-yoke sweater knit in rich red Peer Gynt wool — The same design in Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt, a worsted-spun wool with more drape and a touch more weight.

Corinne also likes to use her patterns as an opportunity to spend time with other yarns in the shop, and for her second Beauly she chose Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt. Like Strikkegarn, Peer Gynt is a 100% Norwegian wool with a long history behind it, and it belongs to the group of traditional Norwegian yarns Corinne returns to again and again for their durability, structure, and unmistakable wool character.

Peer Gynt produces a different fabric than Strikkegarn, which is exactly what Corinne wanted to explore in a second sample. She describes it as more drapey and a little heavier, with a denser feel that gives Beauly another expression while keeping the yoke crisp and the sweater warm. The red sample also shows how the same design can shift in character when knitted in another familiar Norwegian wool.

That contrast is part of what Corinne enjoys about designing with yarns she knows well and then trying the same pattern in another shop favorite. Strikkegarn brings the airy, woolen-spun character she instinctively reaches for, while Peer Gynt gives Beauly a smoother, weightier fabric and a different sort of movement on the body.

Corinne's Peer Gynt sample is knitted in a rich red that she can already picture wearing at Christmas as well as throughout the colder months. Renee is planning a Peer Gynt Beauly of her own, which will give us another opportunity to see how the design behaves in the yarn as release day approaches.

Skeins of Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt yarn — Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt, a warm worsted-spun wool that Corinne chose in a rich Christmas red.

Shop Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt (opens in new tab)

Coming This October

The finished Beauly sweater displayed in full — Beauly lands in October, with kits offered in both Strikkegarn and Peer Gynt.

The Beauly Sweater is currently in testing and is planned for release in October, with Corinne and the test knitters continuing to work through the final pattern details.

We will also have Beauly kits in both Rauma Strikkegarn and Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt, giving knitters the chance to choose between the two yarns Corinne used for her samples. More information about the pattern, kits, and release date will be shared as October draws closer.

For now, Beauly offers an early look at a design shaped by a place Corinne has carried with her for years. A Highland village, the open windows of a medieval priory, and the Saltire all meet in a sweater brought to life in two distinct Norwegian wools, nearly ready to make its way into the world.