Adder Skirt

In the autumn of 2025, Ruth was looking at crochet patterns for a warm winter skirt but none of them were quite right. She wanted something with a graphic design, bold colour and a flattering shape and decided that she would just have to design her own. After experimenting with some of the geometric patterns from our mosaic crochet Boho Beach Bag, she eventually came up with this design. The flow of the diamonds and bold vertical lines reminds us of those seen on the adders which are sometimes startled sunbathing along the riverside paths around Pontyclun. The Adder skirt is a knee-length, A-line wrap skirt made using overlay mosaic crochet. Starting with a comfortable linen stitch inner waistband, the body of the skirt is worked in an all over mosaic pattern. Increases are cleverly integrated into the diamonds to create the easy to wear A-line shape. The skirt is worked flat throughout, cutting the yarn at the end of every row making a decorative fringe on the visible edge. Once finished, the skirt is fastened with kilt buckles for a little flourish. When sharing it with our shop community, we discovered that it also makes a dramatic shoulder hugging wrap. The companion Adder wristwarmers use the same diamond patterning and is a suitable size for a tension swatch but is worked in the round making it a slightly more challenging project. Sizing Available in five sizes: S, M, (L, XL, XXL) To fit waist: 61-71, 67-78, (72-85, 82-95, 91-106) cm / 24-28, 26-31, (28-33, 32-38, 36-42) in Finished waistband measurement: 86, 93.5, (101.5, 114.5, 127.5) cm / 34, 37, (40, 45, 50) in Each size fits a range of waist sizes with a 20% to 40% overlap at the front. Choose the size that has the closest “to fit” waist measurement. For more overlap, choose a larger size. The size shown on the pattern is an XXXL with enough overlap to double the fabric at the front (from hip bone to hip bone). The A-line shape should just skim the hips. The position of the fastenings can be adjusted to give a perfect fit. The pattern was written for a finished skirt length of 51cm (21 inches) which is approximately knee length. Instructions are given for adjusting the length given, but when adding length you will use more yarn than specified below. Materials The pattern uses two contrasting colours of DK yarn – the more contrast there is between the colours, the more vibrant the finished skirt will be. Colour 1 is the lighter shade in the charts, colour 2 is the darker. The recommended yarn is 100% non-superwash wool which blocks well so that the finished skirt lies smoothly over the body without curling at the bottom corner. We used West Yorkshire Spinners ColourLab DK, 225m/100g in 1205 Mustard Yellow (C1) and 647 Very Berry (C2). Yarn requirements: 4, 4, (4, 5, 5) balls of each colour if using recommended yarn or 705, 765, (825, 940, 1055) metres of C1 and 750, 815, (875, 1000, 1120) metres of C2 4.0mm hook or size needed to achieve tension