The Knit Night Collection: The people behind the designs

Just before Easter I launched my Knit Night Collection: three pairs of socks named after some of my favourite knitty people. And thankfully it has been really well-received, so thank you to everyone who has purchased the patterns and is currently knitting a pair of Lyndas, Amys or Sara Elins!

Today I thought I'd tell you a bit about the people I named the socks after.

Lynda

Lynda socks

First up, Lynda. I met my friend Lynda at a newly-launched local knit night a few years ago. I'd been looking for more local people to knit with as, strangely, the people I worked with weren't all that interested in my knitting. Every week Lynda would come along, chat and knit socks. I had always vowed not to knit socks (I have huge feet and was concerned that they would take forever; that I wouldn't like wearing them when they were done; and that I would never be able to knit tightly enough to make a viable sock), but there was clearly something enticing about watching someone knit socks. So one day I found myself in a local yarn shop holding a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in the Blue Tit colourway and some tiny knitting needles; I immediately sent Lynda a text to ask if she would help me knit my first socks.

The following Monday night at our regular knit night, Lynda arrived and handed me two books on sock knitting: Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd and Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oates. Over the course of the following week I read the whole of the Ann Budd book, knitted a swatch for my first socks and cast on. Within a couple of weeks, with a lot of encouragement from Lynda, I had my first pair of socks. And with that I was hooked! I now always have a pair of socks on the needles (and the accompanying sock yarn stash accumulation issue...), and I have Lynda to thank for that.

Amy

Amy socks

I met Amy early on in my PhD; I had just moved back to Durham having been away for a few years, and in the interim all my old friends had moved away. Whatever the course was on wasn't terribly interesting, so it rapdily became an opportunity to get to know a few more people at the university. Amy was heavily involved in GirlGuiding, and invited me to come and help at a local Brownie unit, something I had done when I lived in Cambridge, but hadn't thought to continue doing when I moved. Over the course of the following few months we got to know each other and realised we had a mutual love of crafts.

A few years ago, Amy moved away (she finished her PhD a lot faster than I did!), but our friendship continued and we sent photos of our crafts back and forth, both really appreciating having someone to 'talk' to about whatever it was we were working on. At some point we both learnt to knit socks and shared our frustrations with whatever yarn/needle/pattern we were working on. I knew as soon as I started writing my collection of sock patterns that I would want to name one of the patterns after Amy and was delighted when she said yes! Thank you Amy for coming on my knitty adventures!

Sara Elin

Sara Elin is one of those knitting friends that I haven't actually met, and instead know solely through the internet. When I first started writing a blog, Sara Elin was a frequent commenter, referred to the blog via my brother who knew that Sara Elin liked knitting, and is now my most frequent commenter, and we routinely send emails back and forth too! There are lot of knitters that I have never met, but count as friends, mostly through Instagram. While these socks are named Sara Elin, they are for all the knitters I know but have not met; the people who I most frequently chat to about whatever I'm working on, the people who understand what it is to be a knitter. Thank you all.

I have a KAL for the collection* going on in my Ravelry group, which finishes at the end of May, so you have plenty of time to join in if you'd like to. And you'll be eligible for prizes if you finish just one sock!

*Ravelry link, you'll need to be logged in for this link to work.

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I'm writing a blog post every day in May. If you'd like to read them all, follow this link.

My feet are (probably) larger than yours

A little break from crafting for the blog today, instead I'm going to ponder on shoes...

Looking at the photos for my Knit Night sock collection,* you may think that I am always wearing glamourous, vintage style shoes, and while I do own several pairs of heeled Mary Janes, you'll more typically find me in boots or trainers in the winter and Birkenstocks in the summer. I have large feet (UK 10, EU 44), and finding shoes I like and that fit is hard work (my feet are not wide; the proportions are pretty standard, just bigger than most of the population). The largest size for standard women's shoes in the UK is an 8 (EU 42), with some shops stocking a 9 (EU 43) - I often mention the issue to the staff in shoe shops and am repeatedly told there is no demand (trust me, there is!). As a result, the vast majority of my shoe shopping is done online.

Knit Night Collection - lots of sizes to even big feet!

The seasons I struggle with most, shoe-wise, are spring and autumn, when it's too warm for boots and too cool for sandals. At the minute I really like the casual dress with plimsolls look (which would be perfect with a lot of the dresses I'm hoping to sew in the near future), but my feet look pretty ridiculous in plimsolls and basketball shoes (especially with dresses; I have bought a pair of basketball shoes to wear with jeans - they're unisex, which makes buying them much easier than buying other shoes)! So my quandary at the minute is what to wear with summer dresses before the summer weather starts.

Basketball shoes - ok with jeans, not so good with dresses

Does anyone else share the large feet issue? What do you wear with summer dresses during the day? Which suppliers do you like best?

*I am running a knitalong for the Knit Night Collection in my Ravelry group from now until the end of May. If you'd like to join in, follow this link (Ravelry link, you must be logged in for access).

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I am writing a blog post every day over the course of May. If you'd like to read them all, they can be found here.

Yarning along: Stop the bus, I'd like to get off

Rachell over at The Little Room of Rachell has started up Yarning Along to replace the Yarn Along that was run by Ginny until a few weeks ago; every week Rachelle will be sharing her current work in progress and whatever she is reading, and I thought I'd join in.

This week has been racing by. The Easter holidays are over, and the kids are back to their usual routine, but I still seem to have far too much to do. Most of my knitting is for deadlines (which are looming - May starts next week, and I am absolutely not ready for that), so I can't share it here, and my pleasure knitting is largely being limited to Sundays, so progress is rather slow. As a result, today's WIP I'm going to share is a bit of a halfway house: my Lynda socks for the Knit Night Collection KAL that I'm running in my Ravelry group*. The socks are being knitted in yarn I picked up at the opening of Lucy Locket Land a few weeks ago (which I will eventually write a blog post about); it's a Bluefaced Leicester/Nylon blend and is dyed by Lucy's daughter Penny. The colours are wonderful and the yarn is really soft. I wasn't totally sure about knitting the pattern in a variegated yarn, but the variegation is really subtle and well blended, so I'm happy with the socks so far.

Having finished Me Before You (which I thoroughly recommend; I came to the book via the film, and the book has subtleties that vanished entirely when condensed into a film. The basic plot is that Louisa is employed on a six month contract as a carer for a quadriplegic, but soon realises her role is much more significant. While she tries to change his life, he manages to change hers), I have moved on to the sequel, After You, and while I'm only a few chapters in I think I should get through this pretty quickly (for me, so it'll probably take a month!).

What are you reading and crafting on at the minute?

*Ravelry link: you must be logged into Ravelry for this link to work; membership is free.

New designs: Knit Night Collection

Today I am very, very excited to launch my first ever collection of sock patterns: the Knit Night Collection.

The Knit Night Collection features three different sock designs, and each of the patterns has been named after a special knitty friend.

Amy

Each of the socks is knitted from the toe up using a gusset and heel flap construction, shaped with short rows. The socks have a pattern on the instep and around the leg, while the sole is knitted in stocking stitch. The gusset length is affected by your row/round gauge, so a small amount of optional maths is included to achieve the perfect fit (the maths is completely optional; I know some people really don't like maths!).

Sara Elin

All the socks in the collection come in three sizes (finished sock circumferences, 17.5 (20, 22.5) cm [7 (8, 9) in]), with the different sizes being created by scaling the pattern, so larger socks have larger motifs. The patterns in the collection are written to be needle-neutral and can be knitted on any of DPNs, short circulars or long circulars using the magic loop technique.

Lynda

All the socks shown are knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners Siganture 4ply**, which is my favourite sock yarn. The yarn is 75% wool and 25% nylon, but any sock yarn can be used. I would recommend using a solid or semi-solid to really let the pattern shine.

If you want to get hold of the collection, head to my Ravelry store. The patterns are available individually for £3.50 each, or you can buy the ebook containing all three patterns for £7. If you buy them before 11.59pm BST, April 30th 2017, you can get 10% off with the code KNITNIGHT

I am hosting a knitalong for the collection in my Ravelry group.* The KAL will run from now until the end of May, I would love it if you could join in (and there are prizes to be won!). Head over to my Ravelry group* for more information.

One of the pairs of socks in this collection may look familiar: the Lynda socks were first included in Knit Now Issue 66.

*You will need to be logged into Ravelry for this link to work.

**This is an affiliate link. See my Disclaimers and policies page for more information.