I was absolutely thrilled when Jamie proposed to make a colourwork sweater using Miss La Motte yarn, and which would be inspired by fauna and flora - reflecting our mutual love for all things nature! A few iterations later, she came up with this wonderful design, which you can find for purchase here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/swallowtail-3

She describes the sweater as follows:

'My favorite butterflies are the swallowtails of the family Papilionidae, and from those, the winner is the zebra swallowtail. Each year in late spring, these gorgeous butterflies flutter rapidly through nearby forests, and the striking contrast of their black and white wings never fails to amaze me. The conspicuously modern coloring is quite unlike that of most insects and begs admiration and awe.

Like the butterfly itself, the Swallowtail design blends modern and natural elements for a balanced, yet striking, effect. The garment is constructed around a single zebra swallowtail placed prominently in front, with the remaining colorwork derived from various deconstructed features of the butterfly, including the striping and antennae, as well as modern shapes and patterns. For the body of the sweater, a pink-colored yarn is used as a nod to the flower of the pawpaw tree, which is the food plant of the zebra swallowtail.

This fingering weight design features a total of four colors, but all colorwork rounds require only two colors to be carried at a time. For the sample, both a merino singles base and merino/linen base are used, but any combination of fingering weight yarns will work so long as gauge is met. The garment is seamless and worked top down and in the round. It also includes optional subtle waist shaping.'

Image credits: © Jamie Hoffman