Rowan Kidsilk Haze Pattern – Anice: Everything You Need to Know Before You Cast On

There is something quietly magical about knitting with Kidsilk Haze. The yarn is almost impossibly light, a gossamer blend of kid mohair and silk that catches the light in ways that heavier yarns simply cannot. When Rowan released the Anice pattern as part of their Kidsilk Haze collection, it quickly became one of those designs that knitters return to again and again — whether they are searching for a delicate gift, a garment for a special occasion, or simply an excuse to work with one of the most beautiful yarns on the market. If you have been looking for the Rowan Kidsilk Haze Anice pattern in PDF format, or you are trying to decide whether it is the right project for you, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know before you wind your first skein and cast on.

What Is the Rowan Kidsilk Haze Anice Pattern?

The Anice pattern is a design published by Rowan, the British yarn company that has been producing high-quality knitting patterns and yarns since the 1970s. Rowan has long been associated with a particular kind of refined, wearable elegance, and the Kidsilk Haze range sits at the heart of their identity. Anice is one of the patterns designed specifically to showcase what Kidsilk Haze does best: create fabric that is featherweight, softly lustrous, and almost ethereal in appearance.

The design itself is typically a delicate lace or textured piece — the kind of project that looks far more complicated than it actually is to knit, which is part of its enduring appeal. The finished garment or accessory has a halo effect unique to mohair blends, which softens any lace motifs and gives the entire piece a romantic, slightly blurred quality that you cannot replicate with cotton, wool, or acrylic.

Rowan makes many of their patterns available as downloadable PDFs, which is ideal for knitters who want immediate access without waiting for a physical booklet to arrive. If you have purchased or downloaded the Anice PDF, you will have the pattern charts, written instructions, yarn requirements, needle sizes, tension information, and finishing notes all in a single printable document.

Understanding Rowan Kidsilk Haze Yarn

Before diving into the specifics of the Anice pattern, it is worth spending a moment with the yarn itself, because understanding Kidsilk Haze will make your knitting experience significantly more enjoyable.

Kidsilk Haze is a laceweight yarn made from 70% super kid mohair and 30% silk. It is produced on a fine scale — the yarn is thin, almost thread-like when held up to the light — and it has a prominent halo, meaning that short fibres extend outward from the core of the yarn to create a soft, fuzzy cloud around every stitch. This halo is part of what gives the finished fabric its distinctive look, but it also means that the yarn behaves differently from standard wool.

A few things to know about working with Kidsilk Haze:

Kidsilk Haze is prone to splitting if you are not careful with your needle insertion. Take your time, particularly when working decreases or complex lace stitches. Using a blunt-tipped needle can help prevent the yarn from splitting as you work.

The halo of the yarn means that dropping stitches or making significant mistakes is genuinely difficult to fix. The fibres cling together and laddering back through multiple rows can be challenging. This is not a yarn that forgives easily once errors are embedded in the fabric, so working slowly and checking your stitch count at regular intervals is strongly recommended.

Blocking transforms Kidsilk Haze fabric dramatically. Before blocking, a finished piece can look slightly crumpled and the lace (if present) will not be fully open. After a careful wet block — soaking the piece gently, pressing out excess water without wringing, and pinning to the correct measurements — the fabric blooms. Stitches open up, the halo settles, and the garment takes on the full beauty it was designed to have. Do not skip this step.

The yarn is available in a wide range of shades, from deep jewel tones to pale neutrals, and the silk content gives every colour a subtle luminosity. When choosing your shade for the Anice pattern, hold the yarn up in good light and notice how it shifts between natural and artificial lighting — this shimmer is part of the finished garment’s appeal and is worth considering when selecting your colourway.

Who Is the Anice Pattern Suitable For?

This is one of the first questions knitters tend to ask when evaluating a new pattern, and the honest answer is that Anice sits comfortably in the intermediate skill range, though with patience it is accessible to adventurous beginners.

If you have completed straightforward knitted garments — a simple sweater, a hat with some shaping, or a basic lace scarf — you likely have the foundation skills needed to approach Anice. The pattern requires comfort with reading charts (if lace is involved), working yarn overs and decreases in combination, and maintaining consistent tension on a fine yarn. None of these skills are beyond reach for a determined knitter, but they do require concentration and practice.

The main challenge of the Anice pattern is not its technical complexity but rather its unforgiving nature. As mentioned above, Kidsilk Haze does not allow for easy frogging, so if you make an error several rows back and only notice it now, your options are limited. This makes the pattern best suited to knitters who are comfortable working methodically, using stitch markers liberally, and counting stitches at the end of each row.

If you are a complete beginner and Anice is a yarn you feel drawn to, consider knitting a small swatch project in Kidsilk Haze first — a simple rectangle or a basic lace bookmark — so that you can learn how the yarn behaves before committing to a larger project.

Yarn Requirements and Substitutions

The Anice pattern, like all Rowan PDF patterns, will specify the exact number of skeins or balls of Kidsilk Haze required for each size. Kidsilk Haze comes in 25-gram balls, each of which contains approximately 210 metres of yarn. Because the yarn is so fine and the finished yardage per ball is so generous, many Kidsilk Haze projects require fewer balls than you might expect.

Always purchase at least one extra ball beyond the pattern requirement. Dye lots can vary slightly between batches, and if you run short partway through, finding an exact match from the same dye lot becomes very difficult. The cost of an extra ball is minimal compared to the frustration of finishing a project with a visible colour discrepancy near the cast-off edge.

If you want to substitute a different yarn for Anice, look for a laceweight yarn with a mohair or mohair-blend composition that has a similar halo quality. Pure mohair yarns exist, as do other kid mohair and silk blends from different brands. However, be aware that substituting a non-mohair yarn — even one that is technically the correct weight — will produce a very different result. The halo is integral to how the Anice design reads as a finished piece. A smooth laceweight in merino or cotton will show every stitch more clearly and will lack the soft, romantic quality that Kidsilk Haze provides.

If you do substitute, always knit a tension swatch and compare it carefully against the pattern’s stated gauge before beginning. Lace and delicate garments are particularly sensitive to gauge differences, and a small discrepancy can significantly affect the finished measurements.

Needles, Tension, and Swatching

The Rowan Kidsilk Haze Anice pattern will specify recommended needle sizes and a target tension (gauge). It is essential to swatch, even if you are an experienced knitter who typically skips this step for simpler projects.

Kidsilk Haze is often worked on needles that are larger than you might expect for a laceweight yarn. Using larger needles opens up the fabric, allows the mohair halo to bloom fully, and creates the airy, lightweight quality that makes Kidsilk Haze garments so distinctive. Working with needles that are too small will produce a dense, stiff fabric that does not drape correctly and loses much of the yarn’s inherent beauty.

When swatching, cast on a generous number of stitches — at least ten more than the stated stitch count for your tension square — and work several extra rows. This gives you a swatch large enough to measure accurately. Wash and block your swatch exactly as you intend to wash and block the finished garment, because Kidsilk Haze changes noticeably after wet blocking, and your pre-blocking gauge will differ from your post-blocking gauge.

Measure your swatch in multiple places, away from the edges, and compare your stitch count and row count per 10 centimetres against the pattern requirements. Adjust your needle size up or down until your gauge matches. This process feels time-consuming, but it is genuinely the most important investment you can make before starting a project as lovely as Anice.

Reading the PDF Pattern

One of the advantages of the Rowan Kidsilk Haze Anice PDF format is that the pattern is well-presented and clear, with all the information you need contained in a single document. When you open the PDF for the first time, take a few minutes to read it through from beginning to end before you cast on.

This initial read-through serves several purposes. It gives you a sense of the overall construction of the piece, so you are not surprised by a technique or instruction that appears partway through the project. It allows you to identify any abbreviations or special stitches that the pattern uses, so you can look them up or practice them in advance. And it lets you check that you have all the materials you need before you begin.

Most Rowan patterns use standard British knitting abbreviations, so if you are accustomed to American pattern conventions, be aware of a few key differences. In British patterns, “tension” refers to what American knitters call “gauge.” The term “cast off” is used where Americans would say “bind off.” If the pattern refers to yarn forward (yfwd) or yarn over needle (yon), these correspond to what American patterns typically call a yarn over (yo). These are small differences, but catching them early prevents confusion later.

If the pattern includes charts, use a magnetic chart keeper or a sheet of paper to track your row progress. Moving your marker up one row at a time as you complete each row is a simple habit that prevents you from losing your place, which in a lace pattern can mean the difference between a smooth project and a frustrating one.

Tips for a Beautiful Finished Result

Knitters who have worked with Kidsilk Haze and the Anice pattern tend to share a few consistent pieces of advice that are worth passing on.

Work in good light. The fine yarn and its halo can make it difficult to distinguish individual stitches in dim conditions. Natural daylight or a good daylight bulb makes a significant difference.

Use a yarn bowl or a bag to keep your ball of Kidsilk Haze contained while you work. The yarn has a tendency to travel and tangle if left loose, and pulling at a tangled skein can thin or break the fine fibres.

Place stitch markers at regular intervals, particularly when working a repeated lace motif. Having a marker every ten or twelve stitches means that if you find an error at the end of a row, you only need to rework back to the last marker rather than the beginning of the row.

Work the selvedge stitches at each edge with consistent tension. Because Kidsilk Haze fabric is so fine, uneven selvedges are more visible than they would be in a heavier yarn. Slipping the first stitch of each row knitwise without working it can create a neater, more even edge.

When you are ready to cast off, use a needle at least two sizes larger than the one you worked with. This creates a cast-off edge that is not too tight and allows the fabric to stretch and block properly. A too-tight cast-off on a Kidsilk Haze project can create an unwanted ridge or restrict the drape of the finished piece.

Caring for Your Finished Anice Project

A finished Kidsilk Haze garment or accessory is delicate, and it deserves proper care to keep it looking beautiful.

Hand wash gently in cool or lukewarm water with a wool wash or very mild detergent. Do not agitate the fabric or rub it — simply let it soak for a few minutes, then support the full weight of the wet fabric as you lift it from the water. Wet mohair is heavy and can stretch significantly if held by one corner.

Press out excess water by rolling the garment gently in a clean towel — do not wring. Lay it flat on a blocking mat, pin it to the correct dimensions using the finished measurements from the pattern, and allow it to dry away from direct heat or sunlight.

Store your finished Anice piece folded flat, not hung. Hanging a delicate knitted garment causes it to stretch under its own weight over time. A cedar block or lavender sachet in your storage drawer will help deter moths, which are unfortunately attracted to natural fibres including mohair and silk.

Where to Find the Rowan Kidsilk Haze Anice PDF

The Anice pattern PDF is available directly through the Rowan website, where you can purchase and download it immediately. It is also available through a number of authorised yarn retailers and pattern platforms, including Ravelry, where many knitters keep a library of their purchased PDFs for easy access across devices.

When purchasing a pattern PDF, always buy from authorised sources to support the designers and companies whose work brings patterns like Anice into existence. Rowan invests significantly in the design, photography, and production of their pattern collections, and purchasing through legitimate channels ensures that this tradition of quality continues.

Final Thoughts

The Rowan Kidsilk Haze Anice pattern is one of those projects that rewards patience and care at every stage — from swatching and choosing your colourway, through the careful process of working with a fine and somewhat challenging yarn, to the revelatory moment of blocking when the finished piece opens up and reveals its full, beautiful potential. It is not the simplest pattern to knit, but it is far from the most difficult, and the result is a piece that looks and feels genuinely special.

Whether you are knitting Anice for yourself or as a gift, the finished item carries with it the particular quality that only hand-knitting in a premium yarn can provide. There is a warmth and artistry to it that no mass-produced garment can replicate, and that sense of care and intentionality is worth every hour spent counting stitches and checking charts.

Download the PDF, gather your Kidsilk Haze, choose a shade that makes you happy, and take your time. Anice is a pattern worth doing properly, and the result will be something you are proud to wear or give for years to come.